Anyone thinking about watching this film should be aware of its primarily Turkish funding, and of its historical revisionist portrayal of the Armenian genocide. I would suggest for you to **watch "The Promise" instead**. The plot of this movie is very similar to "The Promise", apart from the genocide, and one has to wonder if it is on purpose.

The political bias is bad enough. But then there is the laboured love story, dull plotting, and flat acting. Despite the sweeping movie score and panoramic vistas, this film never achieves epic status. A total misfire.

With a simple story, set against a revisionist history (as the previous commenter pointed out), this film manages to convey a wealth of feeling between the two leads, and a well stretched fabric of supporting performances by Kingsley and Hartnett. Kinda interesting to have Harnett play a bit of twat here, but you know... I get the need for a foil. Not a bad little film, with some gorgeous landscape shots, but the end seemed a tad too pat and predictable for my tastes. Will be watching Hilmar, as she did very well. Final note: The score was not overly emotional but a very constant support throughout the film.

This film is shameless propaganda disguised as a love story. Funded and produced in Turkey, it rewrites history to portray the Ottoman Empire sympathetically while ignoring or softening the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides. Instead of confronting one of history’s greatest crimes, it hides behind glossy romance and “tragic misunderstanding.” It’s manipulative, revisionist, and deeply disrespectful to every victim of that era.