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!

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")

Female lead has limited emotional range, and i don't quite see why an Icelandic actor with an accent was cast as an American. We have A LOT of American actresses with farbetter emotional range that could've served this movie well.

I really wanted to love this movie completely. For me, half the actors were phenomenal and half were not. Michiel Huisman was absolutely phenomenal in the role of The Ottoman Lieutenant. His passion shown through in the entire performance. I did not care for the lead actress Hera Hilmar in this role. She came across as dull, uninspired, unbelievable and with flat affect & tone to her voice and performance, in my opinion. I do not know her other work, but I was uninspired by her performance here. This should have been an extremely romantic and epic movie but Michiel should not have to carry it himself. In addition, I did like Ben Kingsley's role, but did not care for Josh Hartnett. If the lead actors had been evenly matched and evenly phenomenal then I would have rated this movie better.