By Riada Asimovic Akyol
With its story of a love triangle between a strong-minded American nurse, a rugged Ottoman soldier and a zealous American doctor, it would be easy to classify “The Ottoman Lieutenant” as a classical romance set in a picturesque Anatolian town at the dawn of World War I. Yet the film, which takes place in the Turkish city of Van — a scene of bloodshed between Turks and Armenians — has been the cause of wide controversy both in the West and Turkey.
Despite the attention it has received in the media due to its subject matter, the film has not done well at the local box office, totaling 41,578 viewers so far.
Other Turkish critics found the film too faithful to the Turkish narrative. Senay Aydemir from the leftist Gazete Duvar panned the film from both political and cinematic angles. Aydemir, who doesn’t shy from using the word “genocide” to describe the events of 1915, slammed the film as devoid of feelings, consistency and narrative tempo. Aydemir cynically described a scene in which Veli saves 20 Armenians from another “evil-hearted” Ottoman lieutenant and lambasted the film’s light tone and thin plot that completely omits historical points of interest, such as the political context that led to the Ottoman Empire’s decision to deport the Armenians. He also criticized the film’s blaming of the Russians for provoking Turkish-Armenian enmity, ignoring the roles played by Germany and the UK.
The plot and actors’ performance also got a dose of Turkish criticism: Hurriyet’s Ugur Vardan described the story as weak and not believable. He called the performance of Hera Hilmar “expressionless” and Josh Hartnett’s “mediocre.” Burak Goral of the secularist Sozcu mocked the censoring of kissing scenes in the version of the film shown in Turkish theaters: “As if an Ottoman lieutenant’s kiss on the mouth of a beloved Christian woman would spoil our Turkishness or our faith!”
Clearly, the film hasn’t found much acclaim in the box office or among critics. Yet it may still be valuable as a depiction of the common Turkish perspective on the deadly Armenian “deportation,” defined by many in the West as genocide.
Riada Asimovic Akyol is an independent analyst and writer. Her articles have been published by Al Jazeera English, The Nation and The National. She is pursuing a doctorate related to religion.