Ararat


Starring David Alpay, Arsinee Khanjian, Christopher Plummer, Charles Aznavour, Elias Koteas, Bruce Greenwood, Brent Carver, Marie-Josee Croze, Eric Bogosian. Written and Directed by Atom Egoyan.

The estranged members of a contemporary Armenian family are faced both with Turkey's denial of their catastrophic past and with their own denials. A mother Ani (Khanjian) who only wants peace, but still reveres the death of her first husband who died trying to assassinate a Turkish diplomat. A young woman (Croze), Ani's stepdaughter whose father died under mysterious circumstances and who Ani for his death and wants nothing but retribution. Ani's son David (Alpay) who tries to uncover his roots, willing to jeopardizing his future to learn more about the real facts about Armenian history.

The story also involves a famous director (Aznavour) creating a film about the Armenian genocide, starring an actor Martin (Greenwood) who becomes more and more engrossed in the bloody history of the character he is playing - Clarence Ussher, an American caught in Armenia and a witness to the bloodshed that took place. Appearing in the film is a part Turkish actor Ali (Koteas) who plays a ruthless Turkish general in charge of slaughtering a sizeable number of Armenians and moving the rest. After shooting wraps worries about how the Turkish community will likely criticize him for his role in the film. His lover Philip (Carver) is unhappy his father (Plummer), an about to be retired customs agent.

Atom Egoyan, of Armenian descent himself, has chosen to use the Armenian genocide of begun in 1915, as the backdrop of a different and more contemporary story. Egoyan has stated that for him, this film is personal, but the Armenian genocide is just one theme of the film, and he often demonstrates the depraved brutality of the Turkish army in killing a lot of innocent people. The major thrust of the film deals with what truth is, whether people who claim to know truth can be believed, and the power of denial in ignoring what we wish not to face. Whether it is the Turkish government continuing to deny the genocide, or Ani denying her husband's terrorist (freedom fighter?) activities, or the custom's agent's trying to deny the lifestyle of his son and gay lover, people who publicly strive to find the truth often themselves shy away from it in their own lives. Like all of his film, Egoyan tells the story jumping back and forth between subplots, and between past and present events. It worked very well in The Sweet Hereafter, but for me it works less well here. It was difficult to follow the events and how things fit together at first, although it did become easier as the film progressed. As well, I found the ending quite unrealistic in how David was handled by the customs agent.

The film-within-a-film is set on April 24th, 1915, the first day the genocide began, eventually leading to an estimated historical epic about the holocaust where reportedly 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered from 1915 to 1923. Supposedly, it gave Hitler confidence he could slaughter the Jews without the world noticing. The events in this film are based on the diary of Clarence Ussher, an American doctor who ran a mission in Turkey at the start of the genocide.

Performance wise, rookie actor David Alpay has his moments, although in scenes like his pleading with the part Turkish actor to believe in the Armenian Genocide and its importance, I found him unconvincing. Standing out is Elias Koteas as the part Turkish actor who plays an evil, brutal Turkish general, thankful for his big break, but later having second thoughts when he imagines the negative reaction he will face from the Turkish community. Bruce Greenwood also excels as the self-absorbed star of the film who gets caught up in the emotion of the story. Christopher Plummer is excellent as the about-to-retire customs agents looking back over his career and its meaning and what he will do in the future.

Overall, I found Ararat interesting, educational and thought-provoking, but often overly slow-moving. If you wish to learn a little history, Ararat can be rewarding viewing, despite it's deficiencies.




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