Ararat
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Movie Reviews of Ararat
Movie Review: Egoyan is a genius
Summary: 5 Stars
The Armenian genocide constitutes one of the twentieth century's most shameful incidents. Largely forgotten today due to later, better publicized exterminations, the systematic killing of some one million Armenian people by the crumbling Ottoman Empire in 1915 still stirs controversy today. Turkey goes to great lengths to deny such an atrocity ever took place, but Armenian survivors and their descendants know better. The reasons for this event involved Ottoman politics of the time, with the rise of the reformist Young Turk movement within the Ottoman political system and its "promise" about granting autonomy to ethnic and religious minorities. In a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss," the Young Turks soon reneged on their promises and began a series of suppressions. Armenia suffered the most from the Young Turks sudden political reversal. Only with the defeat and dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after World War I did the genocide end. President Woodrow Wilson redrew the boundaries of Armenia, a process that angered the Turks and directly led to the current revisionism concerning the massacre. Atom Egoyan's film "Ararat" deals directly, and indirectly, with this horrific historical event.Thanks to an individual who really knows her stuff about film, I decided to pay a visit to Atom Egoyan. "Ararat" was my first choice, and a good one at that even though the film is often confusing--often wonderfully so--in structure. The primary reason for this concerns the numerous storylines weaving their way through the tapestry of the film. We meet, by turns, an Armenian art historian named Ani (played by the gorgeous Arsinee Khanjian), her son Raffi (David Alplay), a customs official named David (Christopher Plummer), two men making a film about the genocide (played by Eric Bogosian and Charles Aznavour), Ani's stepdaughter and David's lover Celia (Marie-Josee Croze) and an up and coming actor in a relationship with David's son named Ali (Elias Koteas). Ani is an art historian working on a project about the famous Armenian painter Arshile Gorky, who was so affected by the loss of his mother in the genocide that he painted a picture of her when he arrived in America. Unable to deal with the memories of the massacre, Gorky ultimately committed suicide. As Ani documents this troubled man's life, she must deal with the highly inappropriate relationship between her son David and her French Canadian stepdaughter Celia. Celia believes Ani drove her father to commit suicide, a claim Ani fervently denies.
Meanwhile, we meet customs official David, an embittered soul set to retire from his job in a matter of days. He is angry that his son left his wife in order to form a relationship with an out of work actor of Turkish descent named Ali. Ali receives a phone call from two filmmakers offering him the role of Jevdet Bey, one of the thugs responsible for the Armenian genocide. At roughly the same time, the two filmmakers, one of whom had intimate knowledge of the massacre, approach Ani about consulting on the film. Raffi soon arrives on the scene to work on the picture, and ultimately ends up taking a trip to the area where the massacre took place. On his return, he finds himself held up at customs by--surprise--David, who believes the young man is probably a heroin smuggler. As the film unfolds, most of what we know about the characters comes through flashbacks in an extended conservation between Raffi and David. Egoyan also employs a "film within a film" technique that adds further doubts about the veracity of unfolding events.
"Ararat" is a brilliant film, even more so after you have seen it and think through some of the issues presented by Egoyan. I agree with the editorial reviews that state the movie deals with memory and how it affects people through time and across space. Celia's hostility towards Ani marks one aspect of how memory often assumes a slippery dimension, but the real kicker supporting this theme occurs during the lengthy conservations between David and Raffi. The whole dialogue is an effort on the part of Raffi to convince David that the Armenian genocide took place. David is a world-weary cynic unwilling to believe in Raffi's story, but he comes around in the end and ultimately accepts it. Or does he? The last scene where David opens a certain item and sees what is in it encapsulates the entire idea of the film. Should we believe in Raffi's story, especially after we see what David finds? Where is the evidence of the massacre? Is it in the ruins Raffi filmed on his trip and then showed to David? How do we really know these ruins represent the genocide? There are accounts left behind by American missionaries and other Europeans who were there when the events unfolded, but should we trust personal recollections? By forcing us to rely on narrative accounts regarding the massacre and not hard evidence, Egoyan shows us how it is possible for the Turks to deny their involvement in the slaughter.
"Ararat" is a challenging film. I don't think this summary resolves any of the movie's numerous issues, but hopefully it will provide the impetus for you to get out and pick up a copy. Even if you have little interest in watching the film for the deeper issues, check it out for the wonderful acting. The scene where Ali challenges Raffi over the reality of the genocide should not be missed by anyone who appreciates powerfully compelling performances. "Ararat" is a brutal film containing recreations of Turkish atrocities, so it is definitely off limits to the kiddies, but it isn't horrific for the sake of sensationalism. This is a film worth watching more than once (and probably necessary to watch more than once in order to understand it).
Movie Review: Ararat Tells Devastating Story with Power and Style
Summary: 5 Stars
Director and writer Atom Egoyan--who has won universal acclaim for such films as Exotica (1995), The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and Where the Truth Lies in 2005--is generally not one for presenting his movies in straightforward narrative formats. His 2002 masterpiece Ararat unfolds in overlapping layers that blend the past with the present, art with reality, and government-sanctioned history with eye-witness truth.
In its opening scenes, Ararat gives you the impression that the primary story is likely to involve a turgid family drama in which a fiercely intelligent woman named Ani (portrayed by the brilliant Arsinèe Khanjian), her son Raffi, and step daughter Celia are struggling to cope with the death of her husband. Ani moves forward with her life as an art historian giving lectures on her latest book and working as a consultant on a film about the Armenian massacre of 1915. However, the step-siblings Raffi (played by David Alpay) and Celia (Marie-Josèe Croze) seem less well adjusted and start a disturbing romantic relationship at the same time that Celia begins to sabotage Ani's lectures with disruptive personal questions about her father.
On one level, Ararat is an extremely sophisticated movie about the painful lessons of history and the healing beauty of art. On another level, it is a kind of ghost story about the life and legacy of the great painter Arshile Gorky (1904?-1948). Haunted himself by the atrocious reported massacre of Armenians in 1915, the spirit of Gorky, as portrayed in Ararat, takes the form of different things for different people following his suicide in 1948. In what we call the real world, Gorky emerged as a leading artist of the twentieth century. Along with such geniuses as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko, his work helped define the art movements known as Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. For the director character within the movie Ararat, the painter is an inspirational cultural icon whose personal story embodies the larger tragic history of his people. To Ani, he is the fascinating subject of her latest book. To Ani's stepdaughter Celia, he is a painful reminder of her father's questionable death; and to Raffi he is an important piece to the puzzle of his own identity. (Director Egoyan's own deep respect for Gorky may be noted by the fact that his son is named after the painter.)
The story of one character in the movie takes us inside the stories of others as Raffi, returning from a journey, is interrogated at length by a customs official named David (Christopher Plummer). Unknown to either of them, the official's son happens to be a guard at the museum where Ani gives a lecture; and his son's lover is an actor in a film on which Raffi worked as a production assistant. The sequences involving the making of a movie--about the Armenian massacre and Gorky's narrow escape from it--within this extraordinary movie are among the most exceptional in the film. At times, it is uncertain whether you're watching scenes from the film in production or whether the film Ararat itself is now in a flashback mode depicting the terror of murder, rapes, and forced migration that characterized the massacre. The answer seems to be both but even that conclusion becomes questionable when the actors shooting the movie break character for various reasons. At moments such as those we realize just what a superb filmmaker Atom Egoyan truly is.
This stylish report on the Armenian genocide, which some still deny ever happened, is told with mesmerizing cinematic eloquence using an astoundingly brilliant cast that, in addition to those already mentioned, includes: Elias Koteas, Raoul Bhaneja, and Bruce Greenwood. The adult Arshile Gorky is brought broodingly to life by Simon Abkarian, and Garen Boyajian does an admirable job as the adolescent Gorky.
For those whose lives are not defined or daily obliterated by the horrific butchery that characterizes existence in such places as modern-day Darfur or World War II Nazi Germany, the word "genocide" comes across as a sociopolitical contradiction almost too insane to contemplate. The movie Ararat not only forces viewers to confront the insanity of that contradiction but to take full measure of the brutalities, abuses, and corruption that can destroy lives for decades when allowed to go unchecked. From that perspective, the political, spiritual, and simple human importance of Egoyan's film can hardly be overlooked.
by Author-Poet Aberjhani
author of "The Bridge of Silver Wings"
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)
Movie Review: ARARAT is a complex and ambitious work
Summary: 5 Stars
I had no idea what to expect with Atom Egoyan's new film ARARAT. It has received many negative reviews and scant few good ones. As a big Egoyan fan, I was worried. Would this be the first of his films that I wouldn't enjoy? And the subject, the Armenian Genocide... I just couldn't imagine what Egoyan would attempt that put off so many people. Needless to say, I was completely surprised at how amazing this film is. ARARAT is not a film about the Armenian genocide. It is a film about truth and history. About how sometimes the way we tell a story is more important than the story itself. He uses the Armenian genocide as the backdrop... the subtext... There's a film within the film that IS in fact about the Armenian genocide. I think the people who didn't like Egoyan's film were looking for something more akin to the film within the film. I was much more interested in the film Egoyan chose to make.
In this film, Charles Aznavour plays a well-known director who is making a film about the Armenian genocide. His style is very over-the-top, with a strong Hollywood epic feel to it. After hearing a lecture by Ani (Arsinée Khanjian), an art history scholar who has recently written a book about a famous Armenian artist who survived the genocide, he and his writer (Eric Bogosian) decide to enlist her help on the movie as a historic consultant, in order to provide accurate details on the film even as they stretch the truth even further to make a dramatic story. Ani's son Raffi is also hired as a production assistant on the film in the hopes that he will come to better understand what happened between the Armenians and Turks and why. Raffi's father was killed in a failed attempt to assassinate a Turkish diplomat 15 years ago. Raffi also has a step-sister, who was the daughter of Ani's first husband. She blames Ani for her father's death (murder? suicide?) and continually appears at Ani's book readings asking disturbing questions linking the subject of her book (who also committed suicide) with her first husband. And there's even more...
There were so many things I admired in this complex, ambitious film. I love the way Egoyan jumps around in time and doesn't really give you any clues... you just have to sit back and figure it out. The film within the film... the one actually about the Armenian Genocide... is stilted and overblown, much like most big Hollywood productions, but not without the horror and tragedy inherent in situation. There are some amazing scenes in ARARAT, especially the ones where Egoyan tries to find an understanding in the Turks point of view regarding the genocide and their inability to accept it. And amazing performances as well. Charles Aznavour is terrific as the director. Christopher Plummer is superb in a quiet performance as an airport customs officer who interviews Raffi on his return to Toronto after a trip to Turkey. And how delightful to see Arsinée in such a large, dramatic part. She really shines in this difficult role. David Alpay is fairly strong in the tricky role of Raffi, especially in his dramatic scenes with Christopher Plummer.
One of the many criticisms I've read about ARARAT is how the dialogue is so expository. I didn't find it so at all. One of the points of the film is how the story of the Armenian genocide has been lost, and that people don't talk about it. There's a lot of explanation on what happened in that period of history told through dialogue, which is as it should be in this film. After all, it's NOT a film about the genocide itself, but who it has been dealth with. Plummer's David, when trying to determine if Raffi is smuggling drugs explains that while it's true, trained dogs could easily sniff out the drugs, he prefers his method of talking to the suspect to find out the truth through dialogue. It's a powerful moment, especially in retrospect when the entire film is revealed.
ARARAT is complex, ambitious, thought-provoking, and masterful. I was so delighted by it after expecting something very different.
Movie Review: "PLACED ON A PEDESTAL OF LIFE"
Summary: 5 Stars
A MUST SEE! At first I thought this film was not what I had anticipated. It seemed it would be an artsy-fartsy film (pardon the expression), and not illuminating the history behind the Armenian genocide of WWI. It turned out to be much more than what I had expected, and I think everyone concerned about terrorism should see this; there's so much to ponder on in this film. The action takes place in the present; the past, the history of Armenia, is discussed as a film is being produced on the subject which revolves around an Armenian modern artist's portrait of himself and his mother. The artist was named Gorkiy. He tries to resurrect the memory of his mother, who died in the genocide, in that portrait; his only memento of his family is a photograph that he treasured taken of himself and his mother which he recreates in the portrait. That portrait was the topic of research for an Armenian woman, an art history professor, mother of Raffi, the main character in this movie by Atom Egoyan. She describes his actions as his attempt to take his memory of her from off the pile of corpses to place her on a pedestal of life. I loved how that was said, so I chose that for my title of this review. The artist left the hands of his mother, which lie unfolded in her lap, unfinished. The way he paints the faces of his mother and himself echo artwork on the walls of an ancient church in his village. How he finishes painting her hands reveals his deepest longings to reach for her physical presence which was so violently taken from him.
Be forewarned that there is some language and nudity in this film, although it is not overly vulgar; the film is realisitic and honest, but not family friendly. The contents are heavy. The only nudity in the film is a love scene between Raffi and his French Canadian girlfriend, and a scene in the fictional film showing Armenian girls dancing nude holding hands in a circle mimicking a bridal dance while the turks douse their bodies with gas, the girls' grisly anointing, before igniting them. I hate to even mention these atrocities-so much for the sanctity of HUMAN, living, breathing life. Also, be forewarned that you will hear told nauseating details of the massacres, eyes gouged out (Samson-style), pregnant women raped and then having their wombs slashed open and fetuses slain, boys raped, genitals mutilated etc. These violent acts, however, do not pervade this film; there is a lot of other material in this film to reflect on.
Ararat is the mountain on which Noah's ark came to rest upon after the biblical flood in Genesis 6-9. Armenia was the first christian nation before Rome; the Roman emperor Constantine declared christianity its state religion in 300 A.D. or so about the time when the Armenian church went its own way. The country of Armenia is within Turkey, mount Ararat within its domain. The Armenian genocide of WWI is significant in that, finally, there are many eyewitness accounts, documentation from people from other nations such as the U.S. and Great Britain. Armenia is in a strategic location militarily and commercially as it lies within the corridor between Asia and the middle east. All that is not in this movie, but you NEED to know it! Attitudes about Armenia are brought out masterfully through discussions between Raffi and an airport security official, played by Christopher Plummer, in several scenes and another between Raffi and the actor, of turkish descent, who plays the brutal pasha of Gorkiy's villayet. Often viewed as terrorists, in actuality, when these Armenians do fight, it is in resistance, self-defense, against ignoble powers that be.
Many reviewers say that Ararat is thought provoking, and I ditto that. TOTALLY. You MUST see this.
Movie Review: Complicated, but true...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've heard stuff like "This movie is ALL racism, hatred, and even more hatred." Now I'm wondering if all of us really got the point of this movie. I was pretty surprised to find many people saying that this movie was not good. I knew a lot about the Armenian Genocide(that is, I'm Armenian :) and what happened to my family, I didn't need to know any more... Although I'm seriously against racism(don't get me wrong, this movie isn't racist), I seriously want the Turks to admit that they did such a thing. I was seriously thinking after this movie. This is not a movie that Armenians HAVE to see, this is a movie that everyone else should see. By the way that guy from Glendale who said that this movie was racism and stuff:"I'll meet you on Pacific."
My friends and I were amazed by this movie. I can't find words to describe this. I seriously think that everybody should see this. My father told me that there was [someone]on TV who said a lot of bad things about this, whatever his name is, I seriously think that guy should get a life. It's like he is racist himself, I can't actually believe that he said something bad about this movie. Of course you wouldn't take 6 or 7 year olds to see this movie, but... If you really get the point of this you'll realize that this movie was just made to make people realize that it's not just the land, or the people, but how much we've been hated, just like they said it in the movie, you know? Now, I'm seriously not against the Turks, so don't get me wrong. I hear that the Turks are trying to make a movie that will show that we're wrong. Let them believe what they want. Movies like "Ararat" come once or twice in a lifetime. This movie is way too heavy, if you know what I mean. Someone just might get a heart attack on their way home after seeing this movie. I don't mean that that'll be you but still people, this movie is simply amazing. I don't think I'm going to be doing anything for a while. But seriously, Atom Egoyan has really done it this time(in a good way, of course). You won't be taught anything like this in your History classes, so just go see the movie. I think I won't see it again, but I wonder... Will this come out on DVD or video or both? Well anyway, this is just great. This movie is really thought-provoking. There's one sex scene(this was not necessary, but okay) and no I didn't like it. "The Sweet Herafter" was really good, "What real movies are supposed to be."(everyone keeps saying this). LISTEN to what the characters say, all of the dialogue. Because most of the point of this movie is in the dialogue. Just go see it!