«Kingdoms of Fire» .. Lighting on the bloody Ottoman Empire

The first episodes of the new historical series “Kingdoms of Fire” have sparked a state of media and public controversy because it sheds light on many historical facts about the bloody power struggle in the Ottoman Empire and the massacres it committed in the Arab region.

The work on the text of the Egyptian writer Mohammed Suleiman Abdul Malik, and British director Peter Weber, with the participation of a large constellation of stars of art in the Arab world, a dramatic and artistic attempt on the Arab drama, to shed light on the last era of the Mamluk state in Egypt, and its fall by the Ottomans in the early 16th century.

Different picture

Before the release of the new historical series, the UAE writer and television producer, Yasser Hareb, published through his personal account on Twitter that the number of viewers of the advertisement of the series "Kingdoms of Fire" has exceeded 12 million, a figure that prompted Hareb to publish a press release in conjunction with the broadcast of the first episodes. On MBC, he said, “We sought to get out differently from clothing, lighting, decor and other elements, and contracted with the best technicians and technicians in the world”, while defending not relying entirely on an Arab crew. 10 years was implemented by Arab parties and proud of it, but the jaw "I am convinced that mixing different cultures in a work of art must be reflected positively on the screen. Hence the idea of ​​dealing with different technicians from Italy, Britain, Spain, South Africa and others," he added. And some of them participated in global work, including (the conflict of thrones) ».

Rich period

The enthusiasm of the public to follow the new historical work seems to be justified on the objective level, considering that the period covered by the new dramatic work «Kingdoms of Fire» is rich and rich in terms of historical events and realities, which the work makers sought to highlight and highlight them in a way that seemed to some shocking In the first episode of the series, which revolves around two central characters, Sultan Selim I and his delinquency since childhood after killing his cousin, the grandson of the Conqueror Sultan, against the character «Toman Bay» Sultan Mamluk, who was crown prince in Mamluk Cairo in 1500 AD, And c Gaza uncle Qansuh Ghouri, the Sultan of Egypt that day, to take over the reins of power later.

Credibility and accuracy

The writer of the work, Mohammed Suleiman Abdul Malik, did not spare no effort in talking about the historical sources that were relied upon, along with dozens of references to verify and review the historical facts mentioned accurately, pointing to the presence of a specialist in the Mamluk and Ottoman history, Sabri al-Daly, who was tasked with providing the workmen The author of the series listed the most important historical sources, starting with the book «Bada'at al-Zuhur in the facts of the ages) of Ibn Iyas, saying that Ibn Iyas was a historian contemporary period of the Ottoman conquest of Mamluk Taqa, for this reason, was writing history in the form of a diary or daily newspaper, along with the book «The Sultan of the Ghori with Selim Ottoman» by Ibn Zanbal al-Remal, who was one of the people working in the sand trail, but the contemporary Ottoman occupation of Egypt, and wrote that book in the form of Sir This book was copied and circulated among the Egyptian people as a silent resistance to the occupation in Egypt at that time.

The largest Arab budget

Not far from the language of statistics and figures, the series «Kingdoms of Fire» has the largest budget to produce an Arab drama, the production cost of more than $ 40 million, interpreted by the use of the makers of a large number of international stars in the entire drama industry, and the period of filming in Tunisia more than eight months, by Episodes will not exceed only 14 episodes, to be continued «Kingdoms of Fire» in a second season.

Wholesale Arab talents

It may seem early to talk about the new historical series from a critical point of view, although the Arab public in turn began to discover new Arab artistic talents for the first time on the Arab screens, mostly from Tunisia and Egypt, after they had the real opportunity to appear and shine this time intensely, However, the digital media space on the other hand signals a lot of reactions and multiple readings of the television work, which has aroused the anger of the unusual Turkish side in its dramas so far, to present the whole truth when describing the period of the Ottoman occupation of the Arab countries, and the commission of its leaders and sultans A series of endless human and moral abuses against the peoples of the regions and countries that they have controlled at some point, according to this perspective, the new Emirati drama “Kingdoms of Fire” may be the beginning of a new phase in the march of Arab historical drama, which reveals many absent facts for years, which did not The Arab drama dares to undress and reveal it.