The Ottoman Lieutenant

The way I see it this is the answer to the Armenian funded "The Promise". Both films have good and bad parts, it's obvious both do have a hidden political message. Both tried to fill the cast with some resounding names. Frankly it seems to me that this movie does not have the intensity generated by its nemesis The Promise. Cinematography is very good but it missing depth, long shots riding over the wheat fields too much repeated, some content empty scenes....well to me it's 5 stars!

The core of this movie is a love story--and a very romantic, engaging one at that. Breathtaking cinematography and gripping storytelling make this an exceptionally watchable piece of filmmaking. The politics of World War I, the horrors of the Turkish collaboration with the Nazis and their genocidal treatment of the Armenians are merely used as a backdrop to show the effects of war on everyday human beings. Along with other reviewers, I found that Hera Hilmar's performance as an American missionary nurse in Turkey quirky and often unconvincing--even just the fact of her hair always hanging in her face as she ministers to wounded men being carried her way on stretchers. She does improve as the film goes on and pretty much redeems herself in a key scene near the end. This is a movie, not a history lesson, and as such it offers viewers much to savor and contemplate.

While some reviewers cannot see beyond the work of the actors and director in a project, others pay to escape life and be immersed in a world we cannot otherwise visit. The Ottoman Lieutenant is a grand, sweeping movie that has war as its backdrop. This movie is not a documentary. The artists who worked to bring us this bit of fiction immersed themselves beautifully within the project, and their hard work stands out, much like the Merchant Ivory films. The movie itself does not ask for a review of its accuracy, it simply asks that we put aside the trappings of our present environment to imagine a different vista. If you are interested in enjoying beauty for its own sake, then you will enjoy this film. If you are still intent on reliving the atrocities of the past, then l suggest you stick to documentaries, and only those with which you wholeheartedly agree. - Chipper F. Xavier, Esq.

A war film. or a romantic one. each discovers what he want. and the only delicate aspect could be the unrealistic expectation. because it is less a political movie, it is less a pledge for a cause or the other but one of beautiful - bitter stories about people, emotions, contact between different worlds and the result of this meet. a film who preserves its noble intentions to the first scene to the last, against pathetic scenes and too many black/white perspective or too sentimental parts. but this does it touching. and, maybe, useful, remembering many other stories about same theme.

In 1914, in Philadelphia, the wealthy and idealistic nurse Lillie Rowe (Hera Hilmar) learns in a lecture by Dr. Jude (Josh Hartnett) that there is an American medical mission founded by Dr. Garrett Woodruff (Ben Kingsley) in the countryside of the Ottoman Empire that needs donation. She decides to donate and deliver herself the truck that belonged to her deceased brother and medical supplies using her heritage. On the arrival, she stumbles upon the Ottoman Lieutenant Ismail Veli (Michiel Huisman) that helps her to visit a mosque. Lillie is forced by the government to be escorted by Lieutenant Ismail to drive to the mission and he is assigned to spy the local Armenians. Lillie works in the hospital and falls in love with Ismail while Jude suffers from unrequited love. Meanwhile the World War I begins and the mission is in the middle of the Ottoman Empire where the Russians are coming.

"The Ottoman Lieutenant" is a beautiful romance with a triangle of love in World War I. The cinematography is impressive; the direction is excellent; and the cast has great performances. The story could have used a less polemic and unpleasant background instead of the Armenian Genocide. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Amor em Tempos de Guerra" ("Love in Times of War")