‘The Ottoman Lieutenant’ Proves All is Fair in Love and War

Monet Clayton

“The Ottoman Lieutenant” has an all-star cast including Michiel Huisman (Age of Adeline, Game of Thrones), Josh Hartnett (Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down), Ben Kingsley (Schindler’s List) , and Hera Hilmar (Anna Karenina). The movie was filmed at the famous Barrandov Studios in Prague – as well as Turkey and the Czech Republic – and is directed by Joseph Ruben (Sleeping With the Enemy). It opens with a voiceover from the protagonist, Lillie Rowe, saying, ”I thought I was going to change the world…but of course it was the world that changed me.” It turns out Lillie is a young and naive Philadelphia local, who disregards her favorable and well-privileged background in order to help work as a nurse in a local hospital that services the underprivileged people in the town. Much to her parents’ dismay, she decides to take an assignment on an international truck to help deliver medical supplies to a small town near Eastern Anatolia with the esteemed doctor Jude Gresham (Hartnett).

Once she arrives in Istanbul, Lillie immediately finds an English speaking guide, Ismail Veli (Huisman), who is a lieutenant in the Ottoman Imperial Empire. He advises her that she should have a pleasant but very brief stay as there is a war that’s coming soon. Much to his surprise, she refuses to go home and puts herself on his assignment as a military escort. Once they arrive at Dr. Jude’s mission, they encounter a brooding chief surgeon, Woodruff (Kingsley), who is extremely upset that she thinks she can be a doctor in a man’s business. Seconds later, he is astounded and impressed by her exceptional skill set in the medical field.

Tensions start to arise between the opposing cultures in the remote town Lillie is working in. Turkish Muslims are planning to attack the town soon. Violent outbreaks start to occur as the outbreak of WWI is closing in. The plot thickens as Lillie finds herself in a love triangle with Ismail and Jude, both of whom start to find her charmingly irresistible. Immediately following gunfire, an invasion, steamy make-out sessions, and war, the film fades out with a tragically beautiful score. If you’re in the mood for a romantic melodrama, this won’t disappoint.

“The Ottoman Lieutenant” is in theaters nationwide March 10.