Considering the magnitude of the Armenian Genocide, one wonders why so few movies or documentaries of quality have been produced on the subject; An ethnic minority (the Armenians), systematically slaughtered by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire...fewer than 100 years ago.
Andrew Goldberg has done something that no other American documentary filmmaker has done: produced a comprehensive, factual, moving and even-handed examination of one of the darkest pages in contemporary world history.
I saw this film (in Aprill 2006) at both the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and on PBS. The level to which I was impressed did not diminish when seeing the documentary on the small screen. I am certain Goldberg's product was compelling and understandable for the large non-Armenian audience, for whom it was intended. Many of them told me as much.
Some have faulted Goldberg for being too even-handed, considering the international consensus that what happened from 1915 to 1923 was Genocide. But, including in the film, a couple of sound bites from Armenian-Genocide deniers, and exposing their despicable and weak arguments, was a small price to pay. Yes, they were offered a platform and some credibility that we'd rightfully denounce if they were Holocaust deniers...but the German government has acknowledged its ugly past. The Turkish government, to this day, spends millions of dollars a year to plant seeds of doubt into the minds of the Armerican public and easily compromised politicians.
For the large, non-Armenian North American public that saw this documentary, there can be no question as to what happened between 1915 and 1923.
Mr. Goldberg has used the tools of 21st-Century electronic journalism to clearly examine the first Genocide of the 20th Century.
