Great first work of a director, original plot

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2015)

I had low expectations of this movie: it's a director's first work, yet he has to shoot and direct on foreign country with some unknown actors, the story is delicate at some multinational level... recipe for almost a disaster. But I was wrong.
This is not yet another war movie. The story is original, about little known face of WW1 covering two sides, one of which gained nothing and the other lost almost everything in the end. Kurylenko and Bastoni are surprisingly good at Turkish roles (this is the first time I've heard discernible Turkish from foreigners in a movie), spot-on Turkish mimics and gestures. Crowe's and the Turkish soldiers' transition from foe to friends was natural, convincing. Carefully sprinkled humor easing out the delicacy of the subject. Not a historical documentary, which is also mentioned in the movie: "No records. we're Ottoman, not German", the scene showing piles of documents being burnt (1920s' Middle East was apparently quite chaotic and gloomy).
Obviously there was a pressure to "keep it under 2 hours", and given the fact this is an Australian movie (hence 10 min long father-meets-son scene), some other parts progressed very rapidly, making it look like bad editing. I'll be looking forward to an extended cut, with at least 15-20 min more, if there's any. Overall I'm impressed, very good work deserving a solid 8/10