The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017) on Netflix
Lillie Rowe, a nurse in Philadelphia, hears a lecture about an American medical mission in the Ottoman Empire and delivers a truck of supplies. Lieutenant Ismail Veli escorts her to the hospital.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.4/1027,267 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes19%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1914, Lillie Rowe, a wealthy nurse in Philadelphia, attends a lecture by the American doctor Jude about a medical mission in the Ottoman Empire founded by Dr. Garrett Woodruff, and decides to give the mission the truck her deceased brother had left, plus medical supplies, and to bring them herself. In Istanbul she meets Lieutenant Ismail Veli, who shows her a mosque. The authorities order Ismail to escort her on the drive to the mission near Van, and to keep watch on the local Armenians. Lillie works at the hospital, her feelings for Ismail deepening while Jude's hopes for her go unanswered, as World War I begins.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Ottoman Lieutenant (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Turkish producers arranged the final cut of The Ottoman Lieutenant without the knowledge of director Joseph Ruben, and dialogue about the Armenian genocide was removed in post-production. Ruben, unhappy with the changes, refused to promote the film but was contractually required to keep his name in the credits.
- The release date of The Ottoman Lieutenant changed as the release date of The Promise changed, and Terry George, who directed The Promise, and its producer Eric Esrailian accused The Ottoman Lieutenant of being created solely to counter their film.
- The film's production team asked Project Save, a United States archive of Armenian photographs, for permission to use some of its pictures; Project Save researched the producers and declined, because the producers had received financial support from Turkey.
- On March 7, 2017, the Armenian Youth Federation Western United States urged the public not to watch the film or support it, saying genocide denial remains a major issue, and the American Hellenic Council called it a rival to The Promise and argued for a boycott.
- The Ottoman Lieutenant, which went into production before The Promise, depicts the deaths of Armenians as unorganized killings, the account the Turkish government gave, instead of a planned genocide.
