Ararat

Rating:
Summary: GENOCIDE WE WILL NOT FORGET.
Review: About a month ago I went to see a new movie ARARAT. Frankly, I had some reservations but the director and Charles Aznavour helped me to make a decision. Two hours later, I found myself still sitting in the movie with all people around. It was quiet, the lights were on and no one moved. The show was over but we were still enchanted by it.

The multifaceted story leads you in many different directions but all meeting at the same point - the point of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. The screenplay was masterfully written and the whole movie was so fragile with questions raised by it. ARARAT is a very emotional movie which generates even more emotions from the viewer. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

Rating:
Summary: Gave me a headache
Review: ARARAT is a sincere attempt on the part of the film's creators to acquaint the audience with the horrors of the genocide delivered by the Turkish government upon its Christian Armenian citizens during the First World War, and which resulted in the deaths of over a million, or about two-thirds of the Armenian population. The screenwriter tried to tell the story in an imaginative way. Unfortunately, the screenplay came out too clever to the point of being a boondoggle, and I came away disappointed and with a headache. Four different timelines and several subplots converge into such a mess that it'll be difficult to write a lucid synopsis.

Gosh, where to begin?

In several brief flashbacks, it's 1931 and Armenian artist Arshile Gorky (Simon Abkarian), having emigrated to North America, is shown painting a portrait based on a photograph of him and his mother taken in Turkish Armenia in 1912. Gorky's mother was subsequently killed in the genocide, and her memory haunts him deeply.

In the recent past, art historian Ani (Arsinée Khanjian), an Armenian living in Toronto, gives lectures on the life of Arshile Gorky and uses his painting of 1931 as a backdrop for her presentations . Ani is also a collaborator with film director Edward (Charles Aznavour) in the making of a film, also called ARARAT, about the Turkish army's seige and capture of the Turkish Armenian city of Van in 1915 based on the memoirs of an American missionary, Clarence Ussher (Bruce Greenwood), stationed there. The inhabitants are subsequently burned alive, mutilated or tortured, or driven out into the desert where most are raped, bayoneted or shot. A young Gorky (Garen Boyajian) is one of the survivors. The 1915 timeline, and the events surrounding the Van abomination, are depicted in the scenes of the film within the film, ARARAT within ARARAT.

The last and most recent timeline has Ani's young, adult son Raffi (David Alpay) returning to Canada after spending time in Turkey filming footage of Van's ruins that could be used in the making of Edward's ARARAT. On his way through Customs, he's stopped by David (Christopher Plummer), a humorless inspector spending his last day on the job before retirement. In an extended sequence that apparently lasts hours, David interrogates Raffi about the contents of several film cans (of supposedly exposed film). David suspects they contain heroin, but listens to Raffi's earnest explanation of the ARARAT film and the events that inspired it because the young man is obviously a True Believer.

There's another subplot, which occurs before Raffi takes off to Turkey, involving Ani, Raffi, and the former's stepdaughter Celia (Marie-Josée Croze). Raffi is sleeping with Celia despite the fact that the latter believes Ani drove her second husband (Celia's father) to suicide. The relationship between Ani and Celia is decidedly not warm and fuzzy, and Raffi is caught in the middle. Raffi's own father, Ani's first husband, was an Armenian "freedom fighter" killed while trying to assassinate a Turkish official.

Have I lost you yet?

Perhaps director/producer/writer Atom Egoyan got so wrapped up in the artistic aspects of his creation that he lost his way amidst unnecessary complexity and simply blundered into his original goal, which was to produce a film that indeed thrusts the Armenian Genocide into the viewer's consciousness (and will perhaps throw gasoline on the smoldering embers of hatred of those who'd prefer not to forget past tribal vendettas). The David/Raffi and Ani/Celia interactions might better have been left on the cutting room floor and the old adage, "keep it simple", taken to heart. Certainly, truly great and memorable films about the bloody and savage business of ethnic cleansing can be made. SCHINDLER'S LIST comes immediately to mind. Would that Egoyan had seen it and taken notes on style.

Rating:
Summary: Complicated, but true...
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: complicated? not really.........
Review: This is the first Atom Egoyan film i have ever seen,and I LOVED IT! His portrayal of the genicied is heartbreaking, especialy when you realize that no one that i know of had ever heard of the geniced!I am severly dissapointed in the reviews i have seen in the papers, the majority of them trashed Ararat stating it's plot was too "complicated". Well, I took my 13 yr old daughter and she understood the movie just fine! The only flaw i could find in the movie was the acting skills of the step-sister. The movie required moe of a persona and more effort that she just wasn't giving.
other then that, the movie was a amazing experience! Please go see it!

Rating:
Summary: It's about time!
Review: Not once in my history classes was the genocide in Armenia ever mentioned something I find this very disturbing. It's about time a movie like this was made to let people know that this actually happened. I read about this genocide recently and was phisically ill. To cover it up or denie it happened is the worst kind of evil

Rating:
Summary: do you know what still hurts?
Review: an armenian friend called me two weekends ago and invited me to see 'ararat'. he warned me that the movie's subject is genocide. although this isn't something i usually venture into the theaters for - i tend to use hollywood to escape reality - i went anyhow...

this is the third egoyan movie i have seen in a theater - exotica was my first, the sweet hereafter was my second. each was a unique experience and i truly can say cannot be compared to ararat.

ararat is a MOVIE about a HISTORICAL event validated by scholars, historians, eyewitnesses from the united states, england, france, germany, russia, etc. and even turkey. there is no doubt that the armenian genocide took place. the exact circumstances, motivations, numbers murdered, etc. are questioned - true. but the fact remains that a planned genocide by the turks against the armenians took place and this movie chronicles some of the horride eyewitness stories. the one i can still see when i close my eyes is the rape scene...

now... i read the other reviews that were posted here before i went to type mine. i have to say that the reviews written against ararat were obviously politically motivated and seemingly anti-armenian. it is juvenile bickering at its best...

do you know what still hurts? the hatred.

see the movie. stop the animosity. begin the healing. enrich your knowledge of world history.

Rating:
Summary: The Innocents
Review: That Atom Egoyan is one of the very best directors making movies today is beyond reproach. If he had only made the elegant and stunning "The Sweet Hereafter" his place among the pantheon of directors would be assured. So what happened with "Ararat?"
In a nutshell, "Ararat" is too complicated; filled with too many sub-plots and extraneous material not central to the plot. It's as if Agoyan, in his need to set the record straight about the Armenian Genocide says too much. The problem with all of this is that it takes away from the dramatic core of the movie: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
The Armenian Genocide by the Turks at the beginning of the 20th. Century is innately rife with sorrow, pathos and human despair but Atom Egoyan would have better served his people and his subject had he made a simple, straightforward dramatic film based on Clarence Ussher's Diaries, an American doctor and an eye-witness.
Several story elements do work, though: the story of Arshile Gorky and his mother become a touchstone for the entire film: it's emotional center. Also, Raffi's (David Alpay) plot line with the customs official (Christopher Plummer) though realistically implausible is nonetheless dramatically true. Some of the performances are also first rate: David Alpay, Christopher Plummer and Charles Aznavour as the director of the film-within-a-film.
As in most of Egoyan's films, events and how they are recalled and thereby inevitably interpreted by a group of people is at the core of "Ararat.": Recollection as a way of eventually getting at the truth of a thing.
For the most part, "Ararat" is well thought out and humane and it definitely brings to the forefront a piece of history many of us know nothing about. But ultimately "Ararat" does not carry it's grim burden well: telling the horrific story of the decimation of a people; a story too long hidden away in the history books (if there at all) of these heroic Armenians many of whom survive today and remain irrevocably scarred by it.

Rating:
Summary: Facing the Pain of a Past long Hidden
Review: This movie is a masterpiece. I have seen it three times and wanted to see it again but it was not allowed more than 5 days!!small budget...huge work. The ideas jostling through the movie are profound and disturbing. What happens to hidden untold memories? this is the main issue in this movie . What happens when three generations live through these atrocities? the truth cannot be distroyed. the nightmare does never dissapate. That's the central emotional thrust of "Ararat". It's a shame this movie is not thaught in every classroom! a must see.

Rating:
Summary: A Haunting Work of Pure Brilliance
Review: Master filmmaker Atom Egoyan's (Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, Calander, Next of Kin, Felicia's Journey, just to name a few)latest film is his best yet. To fully understand and appreciate the pure brilliance of this film, one must look beneath the surface. There is so much detail, so much depth and so much beauty underneath the very important and very moving storyline. The film is extremely crucial for the Armenian people and depicts the events of the Armenian Genocide through a film-within-a-film which connects all the characters and events. This, in my opinion, was a wonderful way to tell the tragic story of the Armenian Genocide. Egoyan got his point across with minimal, if any, propaganda. I have seen ARARAT twice and absolutely loved it. The movie lingered in my mind weeks afterward and I cannot wait to see it again. An absorbing storyline, a tightly plotted script, wonderful characters, and some brilliant directing makes this, in my opinion, the best film of the year!! Egoyan is pure genius!!

Rating:
Summary: A pity.
Review: It's a pity that some customers have been writing racist texts. Egoyan is an excellent artist trying to make serious things, and racist approaches can only destroy his efforts for a better world, a world with mutual understanding between different peoples. The Armenian Genocide was not done by "the Turks" but by a political regime, as well as the Jewish Genocide was done by the Nazis and not by the whole population of Germany and Austria. The permanent denial of the Genocide by the successive Turkish governments is a sad reality. Let's try to improve it.