The Promise

Set in 1914, at the dawn of World War I. The mighty Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople, the once vibrant, multicultural capital is about to be consumed by chaos. A medical student arrives there determined to bring modern medicine back to his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries. There is also a photo-journalist who has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father. When the medical student meets the artist, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. As the Turks form an alliance with Germany and the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities, their conflicting passions must be deferred while they join forces to survive even as events threaten to overwhelm them.

135 minutes.
No persons under 13 (Violence).
Drama, Period piece, On the art circuit

Not currently showing on the local cinema circuit.