'The most dangerous place to be during war is in love.'

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2017)

Jeff Stockwell provided the screenplay and Joseph Ruben directed this slice of history from the early stages of WW I as it encroached on the Ottoman Empire, driving a split between the Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks as exacerbated by the inclusion of the Russian forces. It is a well-considered examination of the brutality of war, the collapse of both the Ottoman Empire and the decimation/genocide of the Armenians, and the role America played in the drama in providing a safe haven hospital in the midst of the battles. It is also a love story that deals with the same conflicts – religious differences, ancient customs, the then 'secondary role' of women, and the survival of contested love.
After her brother's death from tuberculosis, young nurse Lillie Rowe, a beautiful, strong- willed woman (Hera Hilmar), who, frustrated by ongoing injustice at home and her Philadelphia parents' prejudices (Paul Barrett, Jessica Turner), leaves the United States after meeting Jude Josh Hartnett), an American doctor who runs a remote medical mission within the Ottoman Empire - a world both exotic and dangerous, and on the brink of what is about to become the first World War. There, she works as a nurse, and finds her loyalty to Jude and the mission's founder Dr Woodruff (Ben Kingsley) tested when she falls in love with their perceived enemy, Ismail (Michiel Huisman), a lieutenant in the Ottoman Imperial Army. Now, with invading army forces at their doorstep, and the world about to plunge into all-out war, she must make a decision if she wants to be what other people want her to be, or to be herself.
The development of the story is well balanced as we see the brutality of the Turks slaughtering Armenians, the prejudices of Americans who fail to respect the value and stature of women endangering their lives to save wounded patients, the artificial barrier between Christians and Muslims in time of war and in the concept of love, and one of the reasons the story plays well is that instead of stereotypes portraying these misconceptions, the writer and director have instead placed those challenging differences in the characters of their story. In many ways this is a love story that addresses all the issues so rampant during WW I. For this viewer it works. Add the extraordinary photography by Daniel Aranyó and the musical score by Geoff Zanelli and the result is a memorable reenactment of a moment in history whose impact remains.