For Canadian director Atom Egoyan, this story is very personal. It deals with his past relatives and culture, the Armenians. The film deals with the Armenian genocide of 1915, when the Turkish army systematically killed more than a million Armenians east of Turkey. Up to this date, the Turkish government denies these events, but the account of many witnesses is enough for director Egoyan to make a story of an Armenian family living in Toronto, descendants of the painter Achylle Gorki. The film explains the tragic events of 1915, and how Gorki escaped the massacre. The existing conflict between Turcs and Armenians is also exposed, and how these events still affect the lives of many people.
The 2-hour long film is very interesting, especially if you are like me, and don’t know anything about this genocide. This remains, according to critics, Egoyan’s most controversial film.
1 comment:
the depiction of 'genocide' in this film is quite inaccurate from the actual facts. although many armenians deaths were the cause of the turkish army, the general premise is one of war and not genocide. moreover, the events were not "systematic", as you put it, but rather sporatic reactions against random armenian uprisings. from a statistical point of view, one could argue the events done upon the british navy by the turkish army in the dardanelles a few years later had aspects of slaughter more akin to "genocide". but the "armenian issue" is rather an overblown affair disseminated by the powerful overseas armenian lobby. moreover, the notion that this movie has very little to offer the viewer from a cinematic point of view, coupled with the partial lens through which history is treated, it is rather a poor effort overall.
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