"Ali & Nino" ( 2016) I am not usually a fan of Historic Period pieces....but I ADORE Adam Bakri so I thought I would give it a chance. And I am glad I did. What I found was a beautiful love story wrapped in a veil of tragedy. The tale is set from 1914-1920 as World War I is fought.....Azerbaijan claims its independence from Russia....becoming the first democratic state in the Muslim world. The celebrations are short lived as the oil-rich country quickly finds itself having to fight to maintain said independence. At the center are Ali (son of a powerful Muslim man in the capital city of Baku) and Nino (a Christian Georgian princess) who fall hopelessly in love. The film chronicles the struggles, obstacles and enemies of their love and their tenacious fight to stay united.

The movies leaves a deep impact on your heart. Wishing it may never end. Asif Kapadia continues his trait. One of those memorable tragedy movies you cant miss. Reminder of the forgotten history. Such movies are rare. A piece of art.

If you read the book you will see that there were so much better scenes to adapt to the movie. Some scenes were nonsense. Some scenes weren't good enough. Auditioning - failed. Actings weren't satisfying for me: Nino is escaping country because of invasion and she is all happy and smiling at the train. I didn't like her acting at all. Great historical mistakes, wrong costumes etc. Overall maybe a good film for someone who hasn't read the book or doesn't know the culture and history. As I know the history and read the book, I can say that it is a failure of adaptation.

In "Ali and Nino" we get a rare glimpse into an era at the onset of the formation of the Soviet Union. The movie is shot on location in Azerbaijan and has wonderful cinematography. Also the interaction between two religions, Islam and Christianity, is carefully portrayed and interesting to observe for that time period and location.Acting is well done with believable characters. I was also glad that the film is in English. The TV-MA rating is probably because due to some violent war scenes and one engaging romantic scene, but overall should be PG-13 / TV-14. We really enjoyed watching it and although there's lots of sadness in this film, this movie is different mostly due to the setting/location and the era and it makes it an interesting flick with excellent cinematic execution.