Ararat (2002)

Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

Director:

Atom Egoyan

Writer:

Atom Egoyan

Stars:

Charles Aznavour, Brent Carver, Eric Bogosian

12 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Simon Abkarian	...	Arshile Gorky
Charles Aznavour	...	Edward Saroyan
Christopher Plummer	...	David
Arsinée Khanjian	...	Ani
Setta Keshishian	...	Dinner Guest / Wailing Mother
David Alpay	...	Raffi
Shant Srabian	...	Dinner Guest #3 / Doctor #1
Marie-Josée Croze	...	Celia
Elias Koteas	...	Ali / Jevdet Bay
Brent Carver	...	Philip
Max Morrow	...	Tony
Christie MacFadyen	...	Janet
Dawn Roach	...	Customs Officer
Garen Boyajian	...	Young Gorky
Lousnak Abdalian	...	Gorky's Mother

Storyline

People tell stories. In Toronto, an art historian lectures on Arshile Gorky (1904 -1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. A director invites the historian to help him include Gorky's story in a film about the genocide and Turkish assault on the town of Van. The historian's family is under stress: her son is in love with his step-sister, who blames the historian for the death of her father. The daughter wants to revisit her father's death and change that story. An aging customs agent tells his son about his long interview with the historian's son, who has returned from Turkey with canisters of film. All the stories connect.

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Plot Keywords:

armenian | armenian genocide | armenia | art history professor | armenian flag | 

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Taglines:

A Quest For Truth... Among Lies, Deception And Denial.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality/nudity and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Atom Egoyan [born Atom Yeghoyan] is a Canadian citizen of Armenian descent. Other Armenian film artists include Sergei Parajanov [born Sarkis Hovsepi Parajaniants], Henri Verneuil [born Ashot Malakian], Charles Aznavour [born Chahnour Varinag Aznavourian], Cher, Haig Manoogian, Rouben Mamoulian, Robert Guédiguian, Richard C. Sarafian, Francis Veber, Anna Melikyan, Aram Avakian, Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes.

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Quotes

Rouben: Every scene in this film is based on this document.

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Crazy Credits

Closing disclaimers: 1) The historical events in this film have been substantiated by holocaust scholars, national archives, and eyewitness accounts, including that of Clarence Ussher. 2) To this day, Turkey continues to deny the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

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Connections

References Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

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Soundtracks

P.L.U.C.K.
(Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers)
Performed by System of a Down
Written by Daron Malakian (as Malakian) / Serj Tankian (as Tankian) / Shavo Odadjian (as Odajian) / John Dolmayan (as Dolmayan)
DDevil Music (ASCAP)/ System of Down (ASCAP)/ Sony/ ATV Tunes LLC,
All rights on behalf of DDevil Music, System of A Down & Sony/ ATV Tunes LLC
Administered by SONY/ ATV Music Publishing, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN 37202
All rights reserved. Used by Permission

User Reviews

important but deeply flawed study of an ethnic tragedy

In 1915, right in the midst of World War I when the eyes of the world were focused on other corners of the planet, the Turks slaughtered over a million of their own Armenian citizens in a holocaust that the Turks to this day deny ever happened. Atom Egoyan's complex, though not entirely successful film, `Ararat,' attempts to show just how long a shadow this horrific genocide still casts over the Armenian people today.

Rather than simply make a film set at the time of the genocide, Egoyan has chosen to set his film in the present and have his vast assortment of characters reflect on what this almost century-old event means to them in their present lives (most of them are second generation Armenians and Turks living in Canada). One of those characters is an aged film director who, in honor of his mother who endured the atrocities, has come to Canada to make a film about the event. Thus, all the glimpses we get of the actual genocide are film-within-a-film reenactments. In a bit of irony, Egoyan shows just how difficult it is for any work of art to faithfully capture the `truth' of such an event, for falsehoods inevitably creep into the picture the moment the artist alters even minor facts under the guise of `artistic license.' This is particularly ironic given the fact that `truth' and `facts' are such an important part of the case the Armenians have built against the Turks. The film deals head-on with what is `truth' and how much of history comes down to a matter of personal perception.

Egoyan has provided a veritable labyrinth of characters and events, so much so that it becomes almost impossible to provide anything near a comprehensive summary of either the plot or the people who are caught in its entanglements and complexities. Suffice it to say that the film deals with such weighty themes as the intricacies of mother/child relationships, coming to terms with the ghosts from both the private and collective past, and the part denial plays in assuaging our own sense of guilt and responsibility for unspeakable events in history. This denial then allows us to live our lives in unconcerned complacency.

Egoyan views his film almost as a giant canvas and he keeps throwing characters onto it, often without painting the strokes in clear enough detail for us to understand fully what is going on (an apt analogy, given the fact that one of the characters is an actual painter and he deliberately leaves part of his artwork unfinished). Some of the people we meet are fascinating and complex, while others seem underdeveloped and too enigmatic to make much of a contribution to our comprehension of the material. Occasionally, we get the nagging impression that a number of the minor characters and plot strands are left hanging in a state of unresolved limbo. Moreover, the film occasionally lapses into a pedantic tone, as if the writer felt it more important to provide us with a history lesson than involve us in a drama. What promises to be an enlightening character study frequently becomes a polemic.

Structurally, `Ararat' is very complex, with the director cutting back and forth between characters in the present, one character in the past, and the events of the genocide as depicted in the film being made. Egoyan deserves credit for bringing it all together even if the very artifice of the format ends up distancing the audience from the emotional immediacy of this very grim subject matter. `Ararat' is more of an intellectual exercise than an emotionally involving drama, but it does serve a salutary purpose in raising the public's consciousness about a shameful, tragic moment in history that has for too long gone unrecognized by the general public.

Details

Official Sites:

egofilmarts.com [Canada] Miramax

Country:

Canada France

Language:

English Armenian French German Turkish

Release Date:

6 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Araratas

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$15,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$211,130, 17 November 2002

Gross USA:

$1,555,959

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,743,336

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alliance Atlantis Communications, Serendipity Point Films, Ego Film Arts

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1