The Promise

If you've studied WWI a bit, you'll know that while the Ottoman Empire was crumbling a group called the "Young Turks" decided that Turkey would rid itself of everyone not Turkish. If you agreed to convert to Islam, you might be spared. So much happened and on such a large scale that you could easily do a mini-series, so the film is a little long and some conflation of things was necessary. It is not unrealistic that Armenians could escape from one situation and then simply find themselves driven from one horror to another. Yes, some Armenians were worked to death by the military, some escaped and tried to hide out, and yes, a few thousand were rescued off of Musa Dagh (a mountain), close to the Mediterranean Sea. Bottom line, this film manages to convey the horror of being hated simply for who you are and targeted for extermination. Oscar Isaac is just phenomenal, and the rest of the cast is very good. The incredible atrocities are played down, fact is if they showed the viewer even 15% of what happened in detail, it would make it hard to attract viewers. The genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other non-Turks is well documented and supported by historians in general. It's a historical fact. The only historians who try to downplay or deny there was a genocide are usually being supported financially by the Turkish government. Those who did not die were largely women/girls who were handed off to Turkish families. I would guess that a large portion of Turks do in fact have an Armenian grandmother or great grandmother. After years of the Turkish government threatening the diaspora and attacking anyone who insisted that this happened, it is extremely heartening that this film has been made.

I was curious which version of the Armenian Genocide this movie would tell. A fiction, that 1.5 million Armenians, 500,000 Greeks, and 250,000 Assyrian Christians were victims of a "civil war?" Or would its makers place responsibility where it belongs -- on the leaders of the Ottoman Empire in WW-I?

To this day, the Turkish government refuses to admit the crime and its supporters took great lengths to derail this movie by flooding internet cinema sites with poor 1.5 ratings to discourage Americans from seeing the film. This, despite the courageous efforts of Turkish dissidents and opposition political leaders who have dared to speak up on the ugliest episode in their country's history.

The story portrayed against the backdrop of this crucial period of history is a simple one. A gifted medical student, Michael played by Oscar Isaacs (Inside Llewyn Davis/Ex-Machina/A Most Violent Year) whose acting matches the intensity of the times -- receives his betrothed's dowry to complete his medical education in Constantinople. Michael arrives just as the genocide begins and falls in love with the beautiful Anna, an Armenian music protégé --performed by French-Canadian Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred Foot Journey/The Walk) who lives with her lover Chris Meyers, an AP reporter determined to expose the genocide (played by Christian Bale (Empire of the Sun/American Hustle/American Psycho).

Director Terry George, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland (Hotel Rwanda/In the Name of the Father/Hart's War) skillfully factors in crises of the heart without trivializing the gravity of the horrific massacre in Anatolia.

I digress here to confess a lesson learned. Coming from a Hellenic heritage scared by 400 years of Ottoman occupation, I expected a larger Greek presence in this movie. My ethnocentric desire to see a Greek army coming to the Armenians' rescue, made me miss entirely the message conveyed in this work. I selfishly asked "...why were my people left out of this flick?" Fortunately, as the end of the movie approached, two thoughts came.

First, the Armenians deserve to have THEIR story told uncluttered by others. Besides, at least we Greeks HAD a country to escape to.

Second, I realized that my people were in the movie and yours were, too. The Cambodians under Pol Pot, Native Americans, the Armenians and the victims of Naziism in Europe: Gypsies, Homosexuals, the horribly so-called "Mental Deficients" the peasants/workers of Russia, and of course, the Jews, are all our people!

Perhaps someday when we realize that our Humanity is all we have to share with one another, such movies will no longer be necessary.

I saw this movie at the Sonoma International Film Festival, and although I felt like it could have been edited tighter, it was an amazing story that I'm glad that I experienced. The acting was great, the period costumes and sets were flawless, and the story that it told was heartbreaking and needed to be told. I doubt there was a dry eye in the house (my wife and I certainly cried).

...but that still hasn't been done justice. "The promise" is slightly better than its predecessor of the same theme, "Ararat". The scenery and settings, specifically of pre-War Constantinople are in fact, breathtaking (if not a bit fanciful). The story is entirely linear and unfortunately falls into trap of turning into a "refugee" movie, similar to "Beyond Rangoon", or the much more masterful "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness"; where the protagonist enjoys a wonderful life until civil conflict forces them and a group of refugees to have to escape somewhere. I think the worst part about "The Promise" is the historical revisionism; The American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (played by James Cromwell) was indeed Jewish, but absolutely no "Schindler", in that he did absolutely NOTHING to save Armenians...not a single one. So, the movie has to invent a fictitious American journalist (played by Christian Bale) so Ambassador Morganthau can "save" him, somehow redeeming his role in the genocide, when the reality was Morganthau was the one who sat around and documented what was happening from accounts flooding his office while doing nothing. Yet, once again, it is a story that needs to be told, so I'm keeping that in consideration in my rating.

What madness is this? I just arrived from cinema and although the summer season has begun they showed me a movie which is not: • some random French or Russian comedy, • a sequel, • a prequel or at least origin story • an animation, • based on YA novel or comic book… • based on a novel or non-fiction book or some older movie • there's not even any superheroes or mutants in it, ferchrissake! Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire and their attempt to wipe out as many Armenian people as they can, at its heart there is a love story – two guys (Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale) want the same girl (Charlotte Le Bon). The Turkish government would never allow a movie like this to be filmed on their home territory – it's said that the Turks have never acknowledged the genocide or their role in it. So it was all filmed in Spain, Malta, Portugal and USA. It has a big budget of 90 million USD and that money is well spent. The movie as a whole looks old- fashioned in a good way: majestic and poetic, also a bit nostalgic for the past „simpler times". The story is also old-fashioned in a good way, which is to say the approach is populist – clearly black and white, we always know who the good and the bad guys are and nobody's choices are never questioned in broader context. But this kind of approach is not a problem when we have three leading thespians so able as Isaac, Bale and Le Bon. They put every nuance of the material to efficient use. "The Promise" is clearly an actors' movie and that's how it can be appreciated even if you personally do not care about that part of history. Some of the scenes with strongest dramatical impact are done even shortly and without any words, just a quick look, pause, and they move on. „The Project" never dwells long on anything happening on screen, there's so much story to give and absorb in the 132 minutes it has. And yet thanks to competent direction and superb actors, it never feels rushed, there's always enough room for important things and people in the context of the story. I especially like the action scenes which are actually pretty small in scope, compared to most war dramas produced today, but it never feel that way. The suspense and danger surrounding the main characters is always real. I am not trying to step on anyone's feelings and underplay the seriousness of the genocide, but it can be said that the century-old suffering of Armenians is not the most well-known of historical tragedies, especially to the general English-speaking audience the movie is produced for. So having a big budget that enormous seems kind of risky. Luckily for the people involved, the project was fully financed by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian of Armenian extraction whose family had lived through the events depicted in the movie, and all the proceeds will go to nonprofits (ie, charity). A fun IMDb fact to end with. „The Promise" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, but before the audience even left the theater, reviewers suspected to be Turkish government- sponsored trolls had submitted ca 4,000 negative ratings. That number quickly multiplied before the movie was released. Maybe that's why the IMDb score is pretty low, 5.9/10. All in all, it's a competent and confident movie from all involved. Even the main man behind the screen, the co-writer and director Terry George is not randomly chosen. His earlier magnum opus is acclaimed and Oscar-nominated „Hotel Rwanda" (2004) about mass murder of Tutsi people in 1990's Africa. So it's like his second shot at the epic making glory in Hollywood. Here's hope the movie doesn't disappear unnoticed… although not having superheroes or even mutants is clearly a misstep!