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 | armenia | art history professor | armenian flag | pomegranate | 

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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

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

Opening Weekend USA:

$211,130, 17 November 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,554,566, 26 January 2003

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ararat (2002) premiered as part of the 'Official Selection' at the 55th Cannes International Film Festival in 2002, but it was not 'In Competition' for any awards. Atom Egoyan's prior feature [Felicia's Journey (1999)] and his subsequent feature [Where the Truth Lies (2005)], artistically less ambitious films, were both screened 'In Competition' at Cannes. The reasons for "Ararat" not being part of the 'Official Competition' in 2002 are still ambiguous: Some claim there was political pressure on the festival by Turkey, while Egoyan said he himself decided not to enter Ararat (2002) into the competition: "This film is dealing with a period of history that has never been represented before on film. The idea of subjecting that to the additional pressures of a jury - given all the pressures that are on this film already - seemed to be unnecessary."

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Quotes

Raffi: Were you serious about what you told him?
Ali, actor playing Jevdet Bey: What?
Raffi: That you don't think it happened?
Ali, actor playing Jevdet Bey: What, the genocide?
Raffi: Yeah.
Ali, actor playing Jevdet Bey: Are you gonna shoot me or something? Look, I never heard about any of this stuff when I was growing up. You know? I did some research for the part. From what I read there were deportations and lots of people died. Armenians and Turks. It was World War I.
Raffi: But Turkey wasn't at war with the Armenians. I mean, just like Germany wasn't at war with the Jews. They were citizens. They were ...
[...]

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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 Swordfish (2001)

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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

Fantastic - and with more layers than you might imagine.

If you are expecting a historic epic about the Armenian genocide this isn't it.

Instead it is a finely crafted, tightly directed look at the historical events of 1915 and how it has affected those that followed. Focusing on four generations, from an Armenian artist who survived the genocide in Van through to Raffi, a Canadian Armenian in his early twenties (played brilliantly by David Alpay in his professional debut) you need to know nothing about the history to get something from this film about the nature of humanity.

The direction is Egoyan's usual unusual style - juxtaposing images one on top of the other to stunning effect, although his narrative style of jumping from thread to thread (and generation to generation) does take some getting used to.

This film will be controversial because of the subject matter, but it isn't two hours of Turk bashing, despite what some of its more biased detractors would say. It does take several of the oft quoted explanations for the genocide and answer them head on, but there are no easy answers.

If you want a film that will leave you stunned both thematically and stylistically then this really is it. I'm now arranging to see it for a second time!