The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Love in hell
‘The Promise’ a compelling look at Armenian genocide framed around romance
Using a love triangle as its anchor, compelling drama “The Promise” tells the affecting story of the Armenian genocide by the deteriorating Ottoman Empire in the time leading up to World War I. ¶ And it does so most effectively, director Terry George and his co-writer, Robin Swicord, making you feel for the many people affected by this terrible event and invested in the three lead characters.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that two of those characters, Michael Boghosian and Chris Myers, are portrayed by a pair of Hollywood’s finest actors, Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, respectively. The third, the beautiful and enchanting Ana, is brought to life wonderfully by lesser-known French-Canadian actress Charlotte Le Bon (“The Hundred-Foot Journey”).
We meet Michael in his Armenian village, where he is an apothecary betrothed to Maral (Angela Sarafyan of “Westworld”). On the dime of his future father-in-law, Michael ventures to Constantino- ple, where he will attend medical school before returning to the village as a doctor and where he is being hosted by his wealthy uncle.
Michael soon meets Ana, who speaks with a French accent from her time living in Paris but also is Armenian, her family coming from a village not far from his. There is an immediate chemistry between them and an obvious mutual attraction. And while Michael is bound to marry Maral, Ana is dating Chris, an American and reporter for The Associated Press.
Thanks to a mutual Turkish friend, Emre (Marwan Kenzari), the four are soon out together socializing, where tension begins to build.
Michael’s uncle, for one, would love nothing more than to see a union of his nephew and Ana, but Michael says it cannot happen, in part because of his debt to his future father-in-law.
“Money is not a problem — I will give you the money,” Michael’s uncle tells him.
“I made a promise,” Michael insists. “I can’t go back on that, Uncle.”
As Michael and Ana continue to share glances, Chris has an episode where he becomes drunk and loudly and overtly criticizes government officials about the burgeoning alliance between the Ottoman Empire and Germany. The spectacle angers and worries Ana, to whom Chris apologizes, explaining that the arrogance of the Germans galls him.
His duties soon take him away from the city, to the countryside, where atrocities are beginning to befall the Armenian people. As he reports to the world what he witnesses, Michael and Ana finally express their feelings for one another.
Yet the three characters will face much greater issues than romantic betrayals as the story of “The Promise” unfolds.
It is pretty powerful stuff penned by Swicord (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “The Jane Austen Book Club”) and George, the pair shining a light on what happened to so many innocent people decades ago. The script drives this home by having some of those close to Michael being directly affected by this atrocity that led to the deaths of about 1.5 million people. (To this day, Turkey denies that a genocide occurred.)
George — whose directorial credits include acclaimed 2004 drama “Hotel Rwanda,” a film built around another genocide — puts forth very steady work here. He takes his time telling a fairly complex story but never allows “The Promise” to stagnate. Are there minor missteps? Yes. Could big moments hit just a little harder? Perhaps. But this is a very well-directed film.
And, again, he gets great work from his principal actors.
Isaac, who’s been terrific in just about everything except the dreadful “X-Men: Apocalypse,” is wonderful in “The Promise.” Michael is a gentle caring, soul who shows a great bit of strength throughout the course of the story. And his flaws only make him that much more relatable.
While we are meant to root for Ana and Michael to be together, Bale’s portrayal of Chris doesn’t make that easy. Chris, too, has his faults, but this is a man risking his life to tell the world of the horrible murders happening in this part of the world. Bale (“The Big Short”), as he almost always is, is interesting in the role.
And expect to see more of Le Bon, who holds her own in the scenes with these actors.
Also worth noting is veteran actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (“House of Sand and Fog,” “Star Trek Beyond”), who makes the most of relatively limited screen time as Michael’s mother, Marta, who impresses upon him the importance of honoring the promise he made to Maral.
Were “The Promise” released later in the year, it might be more likely to be talked about as an Academy Award contender. Perhaps it falls a bit short of being a remarkable work, but it deserves to be seen and remembered.