THE PROMISE
Spain/US, 2017, 134 minutes, Colour.
Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Marwan Kenzari, Angela Sarafyan, Tom Hollander, Tamer Hassan, Jean Reno, James Cromwell.
Directed by Terry George.
The title sounds somewhat generic, any possible promise. However, this is a far more serious and interesting film than the title might indicate.
The main question an audience might ask itself while watching the film and, especially, afterwards, is how much they know about the 1915 genocide of the Armenians at the hand of the Turks of the dying Ottoman Empire. There have not been so many feature films about this significant theme of early 20th century history, the Turks themselves never having admitted that the elimination of over 1 million Armenians was a genocide, a kind of ethnic and religious cleansing. Canadian director of Armenian ancestry, Atom Egoyan, did make a film about the genocide and its impact, Ararat. In 2007, the Italian Taviani Brothers made a dramatic film about the events, The Larks’ Farm. Because of the few films about the genocide, The Promise becomes more important.
The film opens in an Armenian village in southern Turkey, the central character, Mikael (Oscar Isaac) the local apothecary whose ambitions it is to be a doctor. He becomes betrothed to a local girl with the support of his parents, her father giving him 400 gold coins which will enable him to travel to Constantinople and study medicine. His promise is that he will return, marry, grow to love his wife.
This is 1914. Constantinople is an impressive city but the Ottoman Empire is in decline. German officers are present in the city, making allies of the Turks for participation in World War One. Mikael enjoys the city life, at home with his uncle and cousins, comfortably off with their shop, studying at the University where he meets Emre, a wealthy playboy who is studying medicine to avoid military service, and his friend Chris Myers (Christian Bale), an American journalist with Associated Press. He has already met Chris’s partner, Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), who tutors his young cousins.
All seems well until war breaks out, jingoistic Turks rise up against the Armenians, smashing shop windows and destroying stock, literal dancing in the streets. When Mikael and Emre are called up, Emre gets an exemption because he is a medical student, using his father’s name to get an exemption for Mikael. His father, an imperious Imperial man is not pleased and Emre goes into the military and Mikael is arrested and sentenced to hard labour in the Turkish mountains, the building of a rail track.
The soldiers are brutal, the work hard, injured men shot. There is a cameo by Tom Hollander as a prisoner who used to be a clown, who entertains with a little performance but who is willing to carry explosives, an explosion which enables Mikael to escape.
One of the complexities is Mikael’s falling in love with Ana, his disappearance, his being able to return to his village and being persuaded by his mother to survive by marrying his betrothed.
And all the time, in the film, there is the background of the rounding up of the Armenians, many sequences reminding audiences of the uprisings against the Jews before World War II as well is the genocide. There is a powerful sequence where Chris Myers drives into the desert, discovers a long line of Armenians walking into their exile or to deaths, a woman collapsing and a soldier brutally shooting her. He sends reports of these events to the newspapers, gaining a controversial reputation but somewhat safe was America has not entered into the war. The Turkish authorities deny all his stories but there are some harrowing scenes of prison and an intervention by Emre.
And while the war continues and the persecution of the Armenians, there is a complication of the love triangle and Mikael and his promise.
Circumstances bring the three characters together again, a Protestant minister working to protect Armenian children and get them to the coast to safety.
There is a particularly chilling sequence where Mikael discovers the people of his village shot to death by the river, piles of prone victims on the riverbank. As the Turks pursue the refugees, there is a buildup to the confrontation in the mountains by the coast, a French steamer coming in to attempt a rescue, and some tragic deaths.
There is an aftermath when Mikael, who has survived, decades later is in the United States celebrating the marriage of a young cousin, remembering the past, but also the statement that the best revenge is in surviving.
Some commentators have mentioned Dr Zhivago as a kind of parallel story, occurring at much the same time. The value of these dramatisations, along with the romance included, means that and audience will be caught up in the stories, the personalities – and appreciate the devastating realities.
1. History, politics, World War I, the Armenian genocide?
2. Settings, turkey 1914 onwards, the village, the life of the Armenians, Constantinople, society, lavish homes, the shops, the University, the countryside? Long marches for the Armenians through the desert? Massacres? The Protestant mission? The coast, the mountains, the resistance? Malta and the ship? The sea? The musical score?
3. Audience knowledge of the genocide? The Turks not admitting this? The impact on the Armenians to the present? Prejudice, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Muslims against Christians? Persecutions, ethnic cleansing? The cruelty of the massacres?
4. Mikael’s story, the beginning and end, his voice-over? In the town, the apothecary, wanting to be a doctor, his ambitions, his work, his bond with his parents, the betrothal, Maral, her agreement, her father? The bag of coins for the dowry, financing his university studies? The promise for two years?
5. His hopes, or struggle, seeing Constantinople, his uncle, the family and home, Ana and the attraction, dancing with her, the uncle realising the romance in offering to pay off the dowry? His studies, meeting Emre, the social world, meeting Chris? Hotels? His situation?
6. Ana, her Armenian back ground, a time in Paris, education, return, the relationship with Chris? Hopes to settle back into Armenian life?
7. Chris, American, working for Associated Press, his career, covering wars, the relationship with Ana, his friendship with Emre?
8. Ana, the attraction to Mikael, in the house, the outings, going to the choir in the Cathedral? The night together? Chris and his love? The edge between the two men?
9. The indication of trouble, the outbreak of the war, the social party, Emre and his authoritarian father, the presence of the Germans, singing the national anthem? Chris and his disdain? Going by car to the desert, seeing the trek, the soldiers shooting the woman? His being pursued? His writing the articles, continuing during the early years of the war, going to the Protestant mission, going to Mikael’s village, accompanying the family? Information from the official, writing in his notebook, not identifying the official? His drawing away the soldiers, the pursuit, his arrest and imprisonment? His documents, the interrogation? The threats to his life, the American citizen, America not yet in the war? In prison in Constantinople? Emre and his bringing the confession, Chris’s refusal to sign? The ambassador, the ambassador defying the Turks, his being deported? Going to Malta, the French captain, Chris is return, participating the rescue, meeting again with Ana, with Mikael? The audience knowing that Emre had phoned the American ambassador – and his arrest, identifying his voice from the phone, his execution?
10. The Germans, sense of superiority, alliance with the Turks, the Ottoman Empire? Allies?
11. The war, the jingoistic attitudes of the Turks, the authorities, Emre and his father? Emre and his studies, not really interested (and the organs from the corpse, Mikael’s success and his collapsing? His being exempted, using his father’s name to exempt Mikael? His father, forcing him into the army?
12. Mikael, the executions, trying to save his uncle? In prison, the hard labour on the railway, the explosions, carrying the rails, the falls, injuries, helping the injured man, the soldier shooting him? The prospect of winter and deaths? The presence of the prisoner who used to be a clown, his act with the hair, carrying the explosives, prepared to die? The escape, Mikael evading pursuit, in the countryside, catching the train, undoing the lock, falling into the river, the village people and their help, riding the donkey, reunited with his family?
13. Mikael, his promise to his betrothed, her father, is organising the house in the mountains, the hiding there? The wedding ceremony? The life, his wife’s pregnancy, illness, having to take her to his home? The family thinking he was dead? His mother controlling the arrangements? Ana and Chris going to the Protestant mission, taking the family to the
village?
14. Mikael, his love, for Ana, for his wife, his devotion to her, her pregnancy and illness? Reunited with Ana at the Protestant mission? Chris watching? Ana upset at the news of his wife?
15. The Protestant minister, caring for the orphans, the official helping him, the planned escapes, seeing the explosions in Mikael’s village, the Turks and the convoy, the mound of dead at the river, his mother surviving, carrying her? Chris leading off the soldiers?
16. The trek, finding the priest, wanting to escape by sea, the large number of people wandering? The local leader, the mayor, taking the people into the hills, the store of ammunition, even throwing stones? The children, and Ana looking after them? Getting ready, the attack of the Turks, the deaths? The retreat the Turks, the Armenians going higher?
17. Ana caring for Mikael’s mother, her death? The Turks and the reinforcements, the attack, the ship arriving in the harbour, the French and the captain, bombardments, the rescue operation?
18. The boat, capsising, Ana in the water, Mikael unable to save her? The two men grieving?
19. The aftermath, everybody going to America, the celebration of the wedding to Cades later, the happiness of the family, the saying that revenge is surviving? The information about Chris’s death?
20. The German presence during the Armenian genocide – and the Germans doing the same during World War II?
21. The final information about the genocide, the numbers, and the Turks not admitting what happened?
