In late eighteenth-century Constantinople, Sultan Selim III roams the city in disguise, seeking to see his subjects’ lives with his own eyes. At his side is a hodja, whose words reveal religious intolerance and prejudice. The grievances voiced by people in a coffeehouse round out the portrait of the city, revealing an atmosphere of unjust judgments and arbitrary rule. The story invites reflection on power, discrimination, and the value of human life.
