Ali and Nino

Baku, 1918. Ali is Muslim, from an Azerbaijani family; Nino is Georgian and Christian. They have been together since childhood and want to marry. Then the Russian empire collapses, Ottoman and Russian forces enter the city, and a short-lived Azerbaijani republic is founded. Oil sharpens everyone's appetite. The subject is not love but whether it is possible to live at the meeting point of two worlds. Ali belongs to the east and Nino to the west; the film treats that doubleness not as an obstacle but as the definition of the place. Baku itself stands in the same position. The form is broad and classical. There is landscape, costume and battle; the narrative rushes its historical background and the politics of the period stay superficial in places. The source is more mysterious than the film. The novel appeared in 1937 under the pseudonym Kurban Said and who wrote it is still argued over; two different names have long been proposed with no settlement. Christopher Hampton wrote the screenplay and Asif Kapadia directed, having been known until then as the documentary maker of Senna and Amy. Adam Bakri plays Ali and María Valverde plays Nino, with Connie Nielsen and Mandy Patinkin in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like period love stories and are curious about the history of the Caucasus. Who it is not for: anyone expecting historical depth; the film noticeably simplifies the novel's complexity.