The Dialog

Catholic News Service

Man’s best friend is also a lifesaver in “Megan Leavey,” the inspiring true story of a female Marine corporal and the bomb-sniffing dog she bonded with during the Iraq War.

Kate Mara stars in a scene from the movie “Megan Leavey.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. (CNS photo/Bleecker Street)

Leavey and Rex, her trusty German shepherd, together completed more than 100 combat missions in Fallujah and Ramadi, uncovering roadside bombs and caches of weapons, before an explosion sidelined both in 2006.

It’s a supremely heroic and exciting story that transfers well to the big screen, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite from a screenplay by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo and Tim Lovestedt.

We first meet Megan (Kate Mara) before she enlists, and her life does not make a pretty picture. A listless and depressed 20-year-old, she’s mourning the overdose death of her best friend and coping with her parents’ ugly divorce.

Megan lives with her harridan of a mother, Jackie (Edie Falco). Her sensitive father, Bob (Bradley Whitford), provides a refuge from Mom’s persistent nagging.

On a whim, Megan decides to jump-start her life by enlisting in the Marines. It’s a huge leap from her shiftless existence to such a regimented life, and rebellious Megan butts heads often with her superiors.

Caught urinating in public after a night on the town, Megan is nearly expelled. Her punishment is to clean out the cages of the K9 Division, the elite unit of bomb-sniffing dogs headed by Gunnery Sgt. Martin (Common).

It’s dirty work, of course, but Megan perseveres and has an unexpected epiphany. Witnessing the strong bond between the German shepherds and their human trainers, she decides to try her hand. Overcoming cynicism and verbal abuse from her male counterparts, Megan connects with her charge, Rex, and soon both head to Iraq.

On dangerous sorties, the duo proves its mettle, saving countless lives by uncovering land mines and exposing enemy weapons. As her self-confidence grows, Megan opens her heart further and falls for fellow Marine and dog handler Matt Morales (Ramon Rodriguez).

But fate intervenes during an ambush, when an explosion injures both Megan and Rex. Sent home to recover, Megan is devastated to be separated from her beloved canine, now reassigned.

Suffering from physical injuries as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, Megan decides not to re-enlist. But she is determined to reunite one day with Rex and adopt him as her own.

With its gritty portrayal of the horrors of combat, “Megan Leavey” is a reminder of the personal sacrifices made by those who serve our country, as well as a salute to the enduring rewards of friendship.

The film contains a few scenes of intense wartime violence, off-screen nonmarital sexual activity, several profanities and occasional rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Catholic News Service

The clumsily fashioned horror flick “The Mummy” turns out to be anything but tightly wound.

Predictable pagan mumbo-jumbo aside, there’s not much to bother grown viewers in the film. But its globetrotting, from Ancient Egypt to modern-day Iraq and London, eventually feels like a vain search for a better, or at least more focused, story to tell.

The narrative we get, courtesy of director Alex Kurtzman and screenwriters David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, centers on shady American soldier Nick Morton (Tom Cruise). A fast talker more interested in the black market than the military, Nick, together with his more cautious sidekick, Chris Vail (Jake Johnson), capitalizes on the conflict in Iraq by trading in antiquities.

That puts him at odds with archaeologist and cultural adviser to the U.S. forces Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis). So, too, does the fact that Nick used a one-night stand the two recently shared to purloin a valuable map from her.

Partly through the use of this chart, and partly from the effects of an Air Force raid Nick and Chris had to call in after they were besieged by enemy combatants, an ancient tomb has been uncovered. Incongruously, it’s an Egyptian structure right in the middle of what used to be Mesopotamia.

As the audience already knows, this is the resting place of evil Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), a murderer who was put to death for her crimes in the days of the pharaohs. The people who buried her had good reason to want her corpse far away from their native land. They also took elaborate measures to make sure she stayed put underground once they deposited her there.

All of which precautions Nick undoes in a trice, with just the sort of dire consequences you’d expect. Unleashed, Ahmanet puts a curse on Nick, and gains partial control of his mind as she schemes to recover possession of a ritual dagger, the use of which will enable her old ally Set, the Egyptian god of death, to become incarnate in Nick’s body.

Behind all these diffuse details stands a sketchy but respectable good vs. evil theme. Rather unconvincingly, Jenny has by now fallen for Nick and will become the chief cheerleader for the triumph of his underlying decency and altruism.

Yet, as the eventual injection of Robert Louis Stevenson’s character Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) into the plot suggests, there’s a growing note of desperation in these unwieldy proceedings. As the scene shifts across centuries and continents, the script fails to gain traction.

So, by the time they reach the blatant setup for a sequel which precedes the closing credits, moviegoers may be shaking their heads and muttering, “Tut-tut.”

The film contains occult and nonscriptural religious ideas, much harsh violence with fleeting gore, gruesome images, partial nudity, sensuality, occasional sexual references and humor, mild oaths, crude and several crass words. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

Morality is put to the test and fails in the bleak thriller “It Comes at Night.” Well executed, yet painful to watch, writer-director Trey Edward Shults’ drama plays skillfully on the psychology of fear, working more through subtlety and suggestion than depiction.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. stars in a scene from the movie “It Comes At Night.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. (CNS photo/A24)

But maturity is required to grapple with its lifeboat ethics and tacit acceptance of euthanasia in extreme circumstances.

Set in a dystopian version of rural America that’s being ravaged by an unspecified but inevitably fatal plague, the film powerfully conveys the claustrophobic isolation of the family — dad Paul (Joel Edgerton), mom Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and teen son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) — at the center of its plot.

Since any contact with an infected stranger could mean death, the cooped-up clan is terrified when an intruder, Will (Christopher Abbott), breaks into their home in the middle of the night. Though they initially treat him like a prisoner, tying him up and interrogating him, they eventually come to accept Will’s story that he was only looking for supplies and thought the house was empty.

Deciding they would all be better off combining forces, Paul and Sarah invite Will to bring his wife, Kim (Riley Keough), and toddler son, Andrew (Griffin Robert Faulkner), to live with them. But anxiety and suspicion eventually undermine the good intentions behind this arrangement, with horrifying results.

Given its apocalyptic premise, the movie’s portrayal of the elimination of one of the Black Death-like disease’s victims, specifically, Travis’ grandfather, Bud (David Pendleton), who’s put out of his misery early on, can be taken as having no troubling application to everyday life. And the extremes to which some characters are later driven are a source of dread, not a pattern to be imitated.

However, like Travis’ adolescent sexuality, his attraction to Kim leads him to dream of an encounter with her that shifts abruptly from fantasy to nightmare, these elements of the story, together with the distressing nature of the violence on screen, put “It Comes at Night” out of bounds for youngsters.

Even grown viewers may be unsettled by Shults’ deeply pessimistic view of human nature as a Darwinian struggle for survival takes hold. Neither heroism nor self-sacrifice play any role in his narrative. In fact, even the most basic laws of civilization are breached in the end.

So, although the mayhem of the situation is not handled gratuitously, moviegoers may be left wondering why they subjected themselves to this artful but bitter slice of doom-laden life.

The film contains some harsh gory violence, mercy killing, an adultery theme, scenes of marital intimacy, uses of profanity, frequent rough and crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

Close to eight decades ago, William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman. In the years since, the character has become a staple for DC Comics.

She has also had a successful and varied career in other media, including a late 1970s live-action television series that aired on ABC for one season and on CBS (in a revamped version) for two more. While somewhat short-lived, the show, which starred Lynda Carter, exerted a considerable cultural influence.

Gal Gadot stars in a scene from the movie “Wonder Woman.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. (CNS/Warner Bros.)

Now, embodied by Israeli-born actress Gal Gadot, who also played her in 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the familiar superhero holds the spotlight in the enjoyable adventure “Wonder Woman.”

Director Patty Jenkins keeps the mayhem through which Gadot passes mostly free of gore. And the dialogue in Allan Heinberg’s script is unspotted by vulgarity. Yet tinges of sexuality make the film safest for adults, though some parents may deem it acceptable for older teens.

Opening scenes take us to Wonder Woman’s native environment, the picturesque, Aegean-style island of Themyscira. Populated entirely by Amazons, Themyscira is isolated from the rest of the world by an invisible, protective but not impassable shield thoughtfully provided by Zeus.

After chronicling some of Wonder Woman’s childhood (during which she’s played by Lilly Aspell and known as Princess Diana), including her military training under the isle’s chief warrior, Antiope (Robin Wright), the screenplay introduces an outsider in the person of Capt. Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).

An American who’s spying for the British during World War I (an event of which the Amazons know nothing), dashing Steve drops from the sky when the German aircraft he purloined in an emergency is shot down. Diana takes his startling arrival as a signal that her race is being called to restore peace to humanity.

Since her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), the ruler of Themyscira, disagrees, Diana undertakes the mission on her own. Guided by Steve, and with the support of Sir Patrick (David Thewlis), a high-ranking government official in London, Diana uses her battlefield skills to take on real-life German commander Gen. Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and Dr. Maru (Elena Anaya), the sinister scientist who runs Ludendorff’s chemical weapons program.

Steve recruits three additional allies for Diana from among his old pals. This gallant but shady trio is made up of Moroccan veteran Sameer (Said Taghmaoui), Scottish sniper Charlie (Ewen Bremner) and a Native American black-marketer known only as The Chief (Eugene Brave Rock).

The movie’s fundamental values are sound, if not always clearly expressed. Wonder Woman chooses to see the underlying goodness in human nature that the slaughter of the trenches masks. And she consistently strives for concord, though she shortsightedly imagines that this can be achieved by killing the last surviving Olympian, Ares, the god of war.

Believing that Ares has incarnated himself in Ludendorff, Diana is convinced that assassinating him will end the current conflict and prevent any future ones. This sets her at odds with both Steve and Sir Patrick since they believe an armistice is imminent, and fear that the prospect of peace would be ruined by Ludendorff’s death. Despite the tension, however, everyone on Diana’s side seems to be striving to do good.

On a more personal level, Steve and Diana, who have come to be more than mere comrades to each other, are discreetly portrayed as spending a night together, though the camera cuts away shortly after Steve locks the bedroom door behind them. In a more peculiar encounter earlier on, Diana walks in on Steve just as he is emerging from a bath. Incongruously for a man reared a century ago, he makes no effort to cover himself. Instead, he casually stands there while Diana satisfies her curiosity.

It was probably inevitable that “Wonder Woman” would play on the humorous potential of the fact that its heroine has never set eyes a man before, though a subtler approach could certainly have been adopted in doing so. Along the same lines, the situation described above is followed up by some comically awkward wordplay that would not be appropriate for kids.

Together with the pagan details incorporated into the movie’s milieu and backstory, these incidents suggest a cautious attitude on Mom and Dad’s part.

The film contains frequent stylized violence with minimal blood, nonscriptural religious ideas, implied premarital sexual activity, a scene of immodest behavior, some sexual humor, one mild oath and a crass term. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

Cynics beware: The teen-oriented romantic drama “Everything, Everything” bears more than a little resemblance to one of those fairy tales involving a princess locked up in a castle who needs a handsome prince to rescue her.

Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson star in a scene from the movie ‘Everything, Everything.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. (CNS/Warner Bros.)

Anachronistic thinking aside, director Stella Meghie’s adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s young adult novel, which features the genre’s familiar theme of embracing love even at the risk of death, is gentle, tasteful and faithful to the book. A bedroom scene shared by its barely-of-age main couple, however, makes it doubtful fare even for mature adolescents.

Amandla Stenberg is Maddy, a very bright and literate teen who has been told since her earliest years that she has severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. She’s just like the famous bubble boy, except with the run of an entire hermetically sealed house.

This structure was specially designed for her by her mother, Pauline (Anika Noni Rose). Visiting nurse Carla (Ana de la Reguera) rounds out the isolated household.

One step into the outside world, and any virus or bacteria could prove fatal. Maddy lives the most solitary of lives, but insists to her mom that being alone isn’t the same as being lonely.

Her one melancholy wish is to see the Pacific Ocean, which is just three miles away. Occasionally Pauline still mourns for Maddy’s father and brother, who died in a traffic mishap.

Then handsome, sensitive Olly (Nick Robinson) moves in — right next door! He, of course, turns out to be Maddy’s instant soul mate.

Olly has troubles of his own, though. He sometimes has to protect his mother and sister from his abusive drunken father, who has difficulty holding down a job.

Conveniently, the windows in Maddy and Olly’s rooms are directly across from each other. So, soon enough, they’re not only texting but communicating through placards held up to these panes.

Maddy starts dreaming about the big wide world, having long soulful conversations, and anticipating that all-important first kiss. “I’d rather talk to him than sleep,” she announces.

What could possibly happen now? Will Pauline’s protectiveness turn out to have been excessive? Will true love triumph?

You betcha it will. Aware of the target audience, screenwriter J. Mills Goodloe sustains the romantic fantasy without letting any harsh real-life consequences intrude. In fact, his script displays all the gritty realism of a Gidget movie. Still, to borrow a line from the late Roger Ebert, this is a picture with which only an old grumpypants could find fault.

The film contains brief sensuality as part of a mostly off-screen nonmarital encounter and a single instance of rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Jensen is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

Early on in “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” the audience is treated to the sight of magically generated giant elephants swinging boulder-size wrecking balls at the ramparts of Camelot. It’s an apt visual considering how ponderous this action fantasy turns out to be.

Charlie Hunnman stars in a scene from the movie “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.” (CNS photo/Warner Bros.) 

Rearranging some of the traditional elements of the Arthur legend, which may or may not be rooted in actual history, director and co-writer Guy Ritchie comes up with a sort of “Prince and the Pauper” version of events.

Thus, not long after those lumbering pachyderms depart, toddler Arthur’s father, Uther (Eric Bana), dies as a result of his evil brother Vortigern’s (Jude Law) violent, and ultimately successful, bid to usurp the throne. Arthur evades a similar fate by being set adrift, Moses-like, in a boat which eventually finds its way to a bustling version of medieval London still called by its Roman name, Londinium.

There Arthur, dispossessed of his rights and with no recollection of his real identity, is raised as a brawling street urchin by the inhabitants of a brothel.

Once grown, and now portrayed by Charlie Hunnam, the rightful heir comes almost accidentally into possession of Excalibur, here essentially a weapon of mass destruction so powerful that it mows down Arthur’s opponents by the dozens. Aided by a so-called Mage (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), who otherwise goes unnamed, Arthur learns how to wield the super sword and uses it to battle Vortigern for the crown.

Along with the supernatural support of the Mage, Arthur gets human backing from Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou), once one of Uther’s advisers, and expert archer “Goose-Fat” Bill (Aidan Gillen).

Together with his script collaborators, Joby Harold and Lionel Wigram, Ritchie works the occasional witty exchange into the dialogue. But otherwise his film is a grueling ordeal of nonstop noisy fighting. Like the Dark Ages in which it’s set, the movie is dim, toilsome and beset with mayhem.

Since the dust-ups are mostly gore-free, however, and the only flourishes of sensuality come in the form of occult visions, some parents may consider “King Arthur” acceptable for mature teens.

The film contains pervasive combat and other violence with little blood, a prostitution theme, brief partial nudity, fleeting sexual humor, at least one rough term and occasional crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

“The Dinner,” a trenchant morality tale about the nature of evil and mankind’s savage underpinnings, turns out to be as infuriatingly dense and labyrinthine as Dutch author Herman Koch’s 2009 novel.

Richard Gere stars in a scene from the movie “The Dinner.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. (CNS/The Orchard)

It’s not meant to be comfortable viewing, though, any more than the book was meant to be a tranquil read. It addresses moral challenges straight on, and when is that ever soothing?

Director Oren Moverman, who co-wrote the screenplay with Koch, has Americanized the settings. But he has kept intact the central conflict between Stan Lohman (Richard Gere) an ambitious congressman planning to run for governor, and his brother, Paul (Steve Coogan), a schizophrenic and embittered high school history teacher with a particular obsession about the Battle of Gettysburg.

One evening, Stan invites Paul and wife Claire (Laura Linney) to join him and his new spouse, Katelyn (Rebecca Hall), for a very expensive dinner. The venue is one of those Beaux Arts mansions in which the dining experience is tightly choreographed theatre with overly fussy dishes.

The goal, in Stan’s words: “We’re gonna talk tonight. We’ll put it all on the table.”

But the night is about far more than long-simmering sibling resentments. Each couple has a teen son, and together the cousins (Charlie Plummer and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick), who are also friends, have participated in the horrific abuse and murder of a homeless woman, setting her on fire.

No one’s been charged. But a video of the woman set ablaze is now online and there’s been a blackmail threat.

All this, as well as Paul’s illness, is shown in a long series of flashbacks.

Neither brother is quite the person outward appearances suggest, and as their spouses discuss the crime and the destruction it will wreak on their respective families and aims, their lack of empathy quickly widens in unexpected directions.

This, of course, allows for long, angry monologues, diatribes which the actors, shot in close-up, obviously relish. But these tirades are not especially edifying for viewers trying to keep up with the plot or with details like which nefarious lad belongs to which set of parents.

Perhaps the closest recent parallel to this film is Michael Haneke’s 2009 “The White Ribbon,” which showed German children descending, years before World War II, into feral cruelty without a smidgen of guilt.

So this isn’t escapist fare, but neither does it preach. The script recognizes that humans are complicated, never more so when parents are confronted by the worst thing they could discover about their children.

The film contains physical violence, mature themes and some profane and rough language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R, restricted.

Jensen is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

There are so many plot threads going in “How to Be a Latin Lover,” they never quite come together. Rather, the film becomes a scattershot comedy wavering uncertainly between warm family fare and a sex farce.

Kristen Bell and Eugenio Derbez star in a scene from the movie “How to Be a Latin Lover.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. .(CNS photo/Pantelion Films)

The uneven tone, together with long stretches of exposition that wind up being deadly dull for the audience, make the movie a difficult slog, even though it’s weighted toward a moral lesson about the value of work for its protagonist.

Maximo (Eugenio Derbez) decided in childhood, after the death of his hardworking father, that the easiest way to financial security would be to find a rich lady to take care of him. This he has achieved through his 25-year marriage to the elderly Peggy (Renee Taylor), who indulges his every materialistic whim, so much so that his only means of mobility around her vast estate consists of hoverboards.

This inverted Chaplinesque arrangement ends abruptly when Peggy has an affair and decides the union is over. Maximo, penniless because of a prenuptial agreement, moves in with his estranged sister, Sara (Salma Hayek), an industrious widow with a 10-year-old son, Hugo (Raphael Alejandro).

This is where the pathos and life lessons are presumably supposed to begin, as Maximo, now flabby and graying, tries to figure out how to get any kind of a job and from there, learns the value of having strong family ties as well as a moral core.

Instead, director Ken Marino and screenwriters Chris Spain and Jon Zack chart a zigzagging course between crass gags, as Maximo instructs Hugo on how to land Arden (McKenna Grace), the girl he has had his very shy eye on, and Maximo’s instruction and inner change as he learns how fundamentally decent Sara and Hugo can be.

He has not given up his gigolo ways, however. His main goal with his newfound work, even on a tiny income, is to gain the attention of, and ultimately wed, Celeste (Raquel Welch), an even wealthier heiress who just happens to be Arden’s grandmother.

Celeste has two prosthetic arms, a fact which is perhaps supposed to be symbolic but, in the end, only becomes the source for a tasteless sight gag.

This formula demands, and gets, a happy ending for all. Yet the plot’s many fits and starts make the journey to the contented wrap-up torturous.

The film contains brief sensuality and fleeting crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Jensen is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

The sci-fi-themed horror tale “Phoenix Forgotten” includes little objectionable material, other than some salty language in the dialogue. Yet the lack of any positive seasoning makes this reasonably wholesome dish (for grown-ups, at least) dull to the taste.

Largely as barren as the Arizona desert in which much of its action is set, the movie follows the efforts of Phoenix-bred filmmaker Sophie (Florence Hartigan) to make a documentary about the 1997 disappearance of her older brother, Josh (Luke Spencer Roberts).

“Phoenix Forgotten” isn’t outstanding in the field of sci-fi horror movies, according to Catholic News Service. (CNS/Allied Integrated Marketing)

In the immediate aftermath of the real-life, and widely reported, UFO sighting known as the “Phoenix Lights,” Josh and two friends, Ashley (Chelsea Lopez) and Mark (Justin Matthews), set off for the wilderness in search of clues about that event. Though they vanished without a trace, a video camera with a cassette tape in it was discovered in their abandoned car.

Between Sophie’s rough cuts and the playback of the missing trio’s film, the tired “found footage” conceit is brought to bear. But even the immediacy ideally produced by that device could not alter the fact that the virtually bloodless proceedings in director and co-writer Justin Barber’s feature debut, penned with T.S. Nowlin, fail to intrigue.

The imagery that crops up along the way to a partial explanation of what befell the pals includes the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of interlocking wheels recorded in the first chapter of the Old Testament book named for him.

Any connection to scriptural faith is lacking, however. Instead, the “wheels within wheels” serve merely as a prop meant to establish a tenuous connection to the ancient past such as that sought in Erich von Daniken’s 1968 volume, “Chariots of the Gods?” While idle, the use of this motif is in no way disrespectful.

Some parents may feel that the absence of gore, apart from the sight of some ravaged wildlife , makes “Phoenix Forgotten” acceptable for mature adolescents despite the vulgar vocabulary into which the characters sometimes lapse, especially when frightened.

The film contains at least one profanity and frequent crude and crass language and unsettling images of dead animals. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

Catholic News Service

The relatively little-known genocide of the Armenian people by the Ottoman Turks 100 years ago is brought into sharp focus by “The Promise.”

Charlotte Le Bon and Christian Bale star in a scene from the movie “The Promise.” The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. (CNS photo/Open Road Films)

Taking his cue from epics like “Doctor Zhivago,” director Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Robin Swicord, melds an important history lesson with a tender love story. Viewers will emerge with newfound knowledge of the enormity of the holocaust (1.5 million people killed between 1915 and 1922) while appreciating its profound impact on individuals and families.

The story begins in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in 1914. World War I is on the horizon, and the formerly mighty Ottoman Empire, which once controlled vast areas of Asia, Africa and the Middle East, is crumbling.

Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), an idealistic medical student from a small Armenian village in southern Turkey, is entranced by the cosmopolitan city, and especially by Ana Khesarian (Charlotte Le Bon), a vivacious artist and fellow Armenian.

Never mind that Michael has made a promise of marriage to Maral (Angela Sarafyan), who awaits him back home. Nor that Ana is seeing firebrand American journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), who’s in Turkey to document the war.

Michael and Ana fall in love. But their plans for the future are spoiled when Turkey joins the war on the German side, and decides to embark on a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Up to this point, Muslim Turks and Armenian Christians have long lived together in relative harmony. All that changes, surreptitiously at first, as Turkish soldiers force Armenians from their homes. Most are shot outright; some are marched into the desert to prison labor camps.

As Armenians, Michael and Ana are targeted. Chris attempts to report on the killings and inform the world, but is arrested.

“The Promise” follows the travails of each character as the slaughter intensifies. Chris’ plight attracts the attention of the real-life American ambassador, Henry Morgenthau (James Cromwell), who sounds the alarm.

Remarkable courage, perseverance and their unwavering Christian faith sustain the victims against all odds. “Our revenge will be to survive,” Ana tells Michael.

Despite the warnings below, given its potential to raise awareness of a historical tragedy, one that the Turkish government, to this day, has never acknowledged , “The Promise” is probably acceptable for mature adolescents.

The film contains scenes of wartime atrocities and violence, a nongraphic, nonmarital sexual encounter and brief crude language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III, adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.