Genocide film stirs passions
The Promise struggles under weight of good intentions
combines a fictional story of thwarted love with the historical truth of genocide. The setting this time is Turkey in the closing days of the Ottoman Empire, and the Armenian Genocide that took place during the First World War.
A mostly stellar cast is anchored by Oscar Isaac as Mikael Boghosian, an Armenian apothecary living in a small town in Southern Turkey in 1914.
As the film begins, he has decided to get engaged to a local woman from his village and to use the dowry to pay for medical training in Constantinople. In spite of the somewhat mercenary nature of this plan, everyone involved — future husband/doctor, fiancee and in-laws — is happy with it.
In the city, Mikael is taken in by a kindly (and wealthy), relative and meets Ana (Canadian actress Charlotte Le Bon), who has been hired as a dance instructor to the man’s children.
Sparks fly between the Pariseducated dancer and the handsome doctor-in-training, but any romance is hindered by Mikael’s betrothal (hence the film’s title), and by Ana’s relationship with Chris Myers, an American reporter played as a pastiche of journalistic cliches by Christian Bale. And by the genocide. Shortly after Turkey (in the form of the Ottoman Empire), enters the war, racism rears its head as the government begins a campaign of brutalizing and killing ethnic Armenians. Director Terry George presents images of destroyed businesses, mass graves, boxcar deportations, labour camps and a host of other images that would, tragically, become more familiar in the next war’s better documented Holocaust.
Mikael is separated from Ana and survives an improbable series of catastrophes that you just know will end up with them crossing paths again.
Isaac delivers his usual superb work, never overplaying the character’s emotional journey while opening himself up for audience empathy.
How he remains after Oscarnomination-free roles in
(and yes, is a mystery. Bale has less to work with in the screenplay by George and Robin Swicord — bluster and outrage mostly — but he’s fine among a cast that includes some standout actors — James Cromwell, Rade Serbedzija, Jean Reno, etc. — in relatively minor roles.
If there’s a weak link among the performers it’s unfortunately Le Bon, who never quite reaches the heights of love or terror demanded by the story.
And ultimately, the tension between romance and history is what keeps from being a great film. It’s a powerful and important tale to be sure, but the love triangle keeps pulling us away from the politics. Or viceversa, depending on what takes your interest.
With the dubious distinction of being the first modern genocide, the massacre of some 1.5 million Armenians during and after the war is also one of the leastremembered atrocities of the 20th century. It is widely denied, most infamously by the Turkish government.
And it stirs great passions. Even though has been seen by just a handful of people since its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, more than 120,000 have weighed in at film site imdb.com to rate it. Half of them gave it one out of 10, while the other half fought back with 10 out of 10.
The split means the film gets a 5.3 score at imdb, which ironically seems to be about right. Neither dreadful nor magnificent, it features some powerful performances in the service of what should be an undeniable truth. and