The Cut

Faith Akin's epic tale of hope and survival, set in the time of the Armenian Genocide amidst the Great War and the resulting diaspora all over the world. I watched 'The Cut' lately during the London Film Festival, and found it worth the time in general and definitely had its good moments. It did not go for over-sentimentality and didacticism but rather showed an impressive journey of search and survival. For me, the wide shots in the desert and in the streets of Cuba were special, and there was very good work with costumes and set decoration. Some might argue that Armenians and Turks speaking English felt unnatural but it was totally justified for me.

However, the film fell short in several aspects, and during viewing I constantly had the feeling that much more could have been done with the powerful story that could have greatly enriched and added more depth to the end-product. The poor screenplay dialogue was the most obvious shortcoming in the film, and while its over-simplicity can be regarded by some as appealing minimalism, it remained a huge disappointment. One scene epitomised the problem here, when the protagonist discovered that his daughters were still alive, his friend shouted exuberantly with no more than "This is good .. this is good ". It is possible here that using the English language presented a problem. The contrived ending was, to a lesser extent, irritating as well but the slow camera work saved it. I found a particular scene very interesting, when the Turks were evacuating the Syrian city and a Turkish boy got injured by a thrown stone, and the protagonist's reaction, and I wish there were more of these side stories, like watching Chaplin's 'The Kid'.

In addition to screenplay, several techniques could have added more to the story; exposition by flashbacks at different parts of the journey (some dreams were deployed but to a limited effect), voice- overs contemplating the condition of humanity at the time of war. A good soundtrack could have made a big difference as well, and in such a film I think dispensing of such a poor soundtrack altogether could have yielded a better result and added a minimalistic touch, although of course this would have been difficult with the protagonist speech handicap and the lack of a narrator.

The challenging task for the main actor, to rely entirely on facial expressions and body gestures because of handicap early in the narrative, was met by a solid performance, but could be easily overlooked by general audience because of the shortcomings of the other narration elements.

An impressive story of survival, and a very important yet overlooked subject in recent history compared with others of even less scale, but less impressive film. The beautiful shots and powerful story were not enough to elevate it to the epic legendary status, but it is still worth watching.

It has taken a certain courage for Akin Faith, a Turk, to make 'The Cut', a tale of wandering of an Armenian in the aftermath of the Armenian genocide a century ago in the twilight hours of the Ottoman Empire. It also helps that Akin doesn't live in Turkey, but Germany, which spares him of a danger to his life were in Turkey. Technically, the film is well shot, but, alas, too long as Nazarat Moonogian takes up the pilgrim's staff to find his twin daughters. As Nazarat (Nazareth), Akin chose well: the Cesar winning actor Rahim Tahar, who does a yeoman's job as the wandering Armenian, as he goes from Syria to Lebanon then Cuba to Minneapolis and finally to the snow driven plains of North Dakota to find his daughter. As his name implies he is the embodiment of a Christian hero who has suffered much, for like his namesake, he is the branch of family that although disfigured by a Turkish massacre, he remains rooted in the soil of his determination and his ethnicity that is still capable of bearing fruit and surviving. 'The Cut' is a cinematic thanksgiving of survival, grit and determination to withstand the vagaries of Turkish prejudice. And, it is to Akin camera that honesty in dealing with a genocide which even today Turkey denies.

I should say Faith Akin is currently one of the most important directors from Germany of Turkish descent. He brought a fresh spirit to German and Turkish film scene. He shows also great courage with the theme Armenian Genocide. He explains a personal story, but also takes a step to the Armenians from Turkish side, and try to say "we understand your suffering." Regrettably that is enough to be excommunicated from Turkish community, because it is still a taboo to talk about Armenian problem in such a way.

It is a pity that he missed such a great chance to create a good film with his humanistic intentions. Most of the scenes feel like staged, acting is mostly average. The main problem with the movie is the atmosphere. When I see a good movie, I forget that it is a movie and create an emotional connection with the characters. That is the most important thing for me as I evaluate a film. And it lacked completely for me. It could be the worst cinematographic work of Faith Akin till now. Still deserves above average from me.

Tahir Rahim ('A Prophet') stars as Nazarat an Armenian artisan in the town of Mardin. World War I is raging and the Ottoman Turks have thrown in their lot with the forces of Germany and her allies. In Turkey a decision is made to do something about the Christian Armenians. Nazarat is rounded up and forced to work as slave labour – leaving his wife and twin daughters alone to their fate.

What befalls him is horrific and what befell the Armenians was a war crime and a crime against humanity. In the aftermath of his travails Nazarat hears that his daughters have survived the blood bath, he then sets out to find them and the majority of the film is taken up with his search.

Now this is a fairly good effort, it is a bit shameless at tugging on the heart strings though. It was a wide European co-production and that is reflected in the languages being used. The main language though is English, which is used by most of the players here. That may be why it has faced criticism of some of the acting. That criticism is that some of it was a bit hammy or wooden. It is harder to act in a non native tongue so a lot of the nuances are lost.

Rahim is as ever excellent and believable and as a central character to the film he manages to hold it all together very well. There are some plot holes and I could not find if this was based on an actual real story. However, it is fairly engaging and with a run time of around two hours managed to keep me gripped for the most part hence my rating.

I am generally a fan of Akin's movies and this one is not an exception. It was a very good film. The scenery is amazing, the acting is stellar, especially the main actor's mute yet very expressive performance. The story line is multi-faceted and very balanced: It does not assign guilt in just one direction. There are plenty of people who help on all sides (Armenians, Turks, Arabs, Americans), there are lots of people with personal weaknesses fighting for themselves first, including the hero, and there are barbarians everywhere also. And every page that turns gives us a new perspective on what has happened to Armenians back then.

This movie is not only important to confront Turkish society with its history, it is also very timely with the global refugee crisis. It humanizes and personalizes the experience of loss and death that those who survive war and genocide go through, and the suffering of those who have to flee home in general.