The Promise

Terry George's The Promise brings to light a historical event that has sadly become faded with time.  During the final years of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, there was a time of genocide against the Armenian population that to this day the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge.  Despite a recorded 15 million deaths during this event, it is seldom spoken of, and sometimes even denied.  Because of this, and the fact it's hardly if ever been covered in film, the movie has a tremendous amount of emotional power, even if can be heavy-handed and melodramatic at times.

What impressed me the most about George's approach is that despite the PG-13 rating it has received, this film still feels like the tremendous emotional gut punch that it should be, and seldom if ever feels watered down.  He tackles the atrocity of the situation head on, and does not hold back from shots of dozens if not hundreds of innocent people who were murdered and left to rot in mass graves.  We get to see the many hardships the Armenians endured, and also how many of the murders and crimes were covered up or ignored completely.  This in itself makes for gripping storytelling, and I for one was seething with anger at some of the images up on the screen.  However, in an effort to make the movie more appealing to a mass audience, a love triangle story has been placed at the forefront.  And while it doesn't completely rob the film of its power, it does feel like a somewhat tacked on commercial element, and was probably a necessary evil in order to get the film made.

In it's main plot, an aspiring medical doctor named Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) leaves his small village in order to go to medical school in Constantinople.  He arrives roughly around the same time that the Ottoman Empire enters World War I, and when the Armenian people were being persecuted against heavily.  While there, he falls in love with a French-educated Armenian woman named Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), who happens to currently be in love with an American journalist covering the situation in Turkey named Chris Myers (Christian Bale).  Mikael has a woman back home that he has been betrothed to (the money that he got as a dowry is how he was able to afford medical school), but he cannot hide his feelings for Ana, nor apparently can she for him.  Eventually, the two are separated when Mikael is forced into a hard labor camp, while Ana and Chris attempt to help guide young orphans out of Turkey.

The most harrowing moments in the film deal with Mikael in the labor camp, as well as his attempts to reach safety.  He does eventually make his way back to his home village, where he is reunited with his family and the woman he was originally betrothed to.  However, fateful events will find Mikael once again in danger, fighting for his life, and eventually by Ana's side once more.  This is all told in the style of a sweeping epic, with grand visuals, beautifully shot locales, and eventually realistic depictions of war and the crimes that were committed against innocent people who were trying to escape from persecution.  It is definitely the political angle, rather than the romantic one, that gets you involved while watching The Promise.  Fortunately, as the movie goes on, it is the more successful aspects that take center stage, while the love story (while not forgotten) does not drive the narrative quite as heavily as it does during the first hour or so.

So, the historically accurate part of the film covering the war atrocities and the struggle for survival (which director Terry George and his co-writer Robin Swicord heavily researched) is much more effective than the fictional love story used to create personal human interest.  George does have a history of bringing harrowing situations to light, as he did with his 2004 film Hotel Rwanda.  And while this doesn't quite live up to the standards of that Oscar-nominated film, it still manages some unforgettable moments, and manages to make the audience truly angry about the situation and the human crimes that were committed during the time period.  Couple that with a beautiful physical production (the movie's budget was rumored to be at $90 million, and it shows), as well as some strong performances, and you definitely have a movie that is worth seeing, despite a few missteps.

Even if it can be a bit melodramatic at times, The Promise is never so broad as to lose the emotional power of the material.  It manages to be heartbreaking, uplifting, and even beautiful at certain times.  The fact that a film like this missed the "Award Season" train and is being released in late April obviously means the studio has little faith in it, but I really do hope it finds an audience.  It tells a story that has been largely forgotten, should be remembered, and hopefully will create some new interest in the actual event.

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