588, rue Paradis

There are different nations, different countries and a long history of worldwide developments... However, Armenian people had a severe destiny, which creates one of the most bloody pages of old and new developments throughout the world. In 1915 the Ottoman Turks undertook Armenian massacres of 1500000 people. This film is one of the most bright pictures of those heavy times. Araqsi, Hakob, Azat (their son), Gayane and Anna (sisters of Araqsi) were able to escape from Western Armenia and moved to France. Hakob's brothers, stayed in Armenia in order to save the heritage of the family, "but could not" save their lives....". They used to live in a rich house, with no needs... In France, this beautiful faced difficulties of earning money, sending Azat to school and even finding a little fire to cook their dinners... However, they did not loose their values: the best school was chosen for Azat, the best dishes were cooked by Anna, the hardest work was done by Hakob... This is a must watch, regardless of your nationality... This is a deep movie about love, family, pain and joy. Children, women and men were killed in the desserts.. Turkish people were killing even pregnant women... Watch this film and know the real history...!

You watch this movie as a dream. I didn't have the privilege yet to see ''Mayrig'' the prologue if you want, but this movie. Wow! It's all I want to see from a movie. Humans relations were never the same again. Richard Berry has been cast as the main actor and the son of Omar Sharif and Claudia Cardinale who played their roles in such a beautiful way, you won't believe it. It's not a movie, it's a true story. Something, the direction and author by the way, really lived. This movie tell you the story you to hear. You will laugh, you will cry, you will be happy, you will be unhappy... and it goes on and on. This movie is 130 minutes of pure satisfaction. Even in my dreams, I never had the privilege to feel such a beautiful dream. The cast has been choose carefully as the actors done probably the best acting they ever done!!

This story of an Armenian who becomes a famous French playwright, hiding or forgetting his humble origins, only to rediscover them through the genuine warmth and sincerity of simple people, is truly uplifting! An excellent cast, led by Claudia Cardinale and Omar Sharif, but including a number of fine actors unknown to me, present this thoughtful, intelligent script with conviction and honesty, with no need for language, nudity or violence to show the contrast between city and country people.

A treasure of a film that should be viewed with someone you love.