La promesse

Me and my lack of history knowledge, new nothing of this situation. I fell across the film by mistake. It was a great film about a terrible time. Highly recommend this film to all ages. Everyone plays a great part. I look forward to future films from the directors The promise Can't fault any of film

It's a shame that this film's IMDb page has effectively been hijacked by trolls because it covers a politically sensitive topic. Over 90% of all voters have either given it 1 or 10 stars, clearly attempting to sway the rating one way or another without actually watching the film and judging it on merit. 'The Promise' doesn't actually focus on the Armenian genocide itself, rather it is set during the final years of the Ottoman Empire and centers for the most part on a developing love triangle involving the main character.

Looking at this film objectively and without joining the many others in disputing its historical accuracy, I thought 'The Promise' was an impressive and well-made drama film. The plot is engaging and well-constructed and is effective in balancing the telling of historical events with an emerging romance. It also looks great - the production and cinematography is excellent and it features some stunning scenery. Unfortunately the genuine ratings and reviews for this film have been drowned out by so many one-line one-star fake reviews.

I was curious which version of the Armenian Genocide this movie would tell. A fiction, that 1.5 million Armenians, 500,000 Greeks, and 250,000 Assyrian Christians were victims of a "civil war?" Or would its makers place responsibility where it belongs -- on the leaders of the Ottoman Empire in WW-I?

To this day, the Turkish government refuses to admit the crime and its supporters took great lengths to derail this movie by flooding internet cinema sites with poor 1.5 ratings to discourage Americans from seeing the film. This, despite the courageous efforts of Turkish dissidents and opposition political leaders who have dared to speak up on the ugliest episode in their country's history.

The story portrayed against the backdrop of this crucial period of history is a simple one. A gifted medical student, Michael played by Oscar Isaacs (Inside Llewyn Davis/Ex-Machina/A Most Violent Year) whose acting matches the intensity of the times -- receives his betrothed's dowry to complete his medical education in Constantinople. Michael arrives just as the genocide begins and falls in love with the beautiful Anna, an Armenian music protégé --performed by French-Canadian Charlotte Le Bon (The Hundred Foot Journey/The Walk) who lives with her lover Chris Meyers, an AP reporter determined to expose the genocide (played by Christian Bale (Empire of the Sun/American Hustle/American Psycho).

Director Terry George, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland (Hotel Rwanda/In the Name of the Father/Hart's War) skillfully factors in crises of the heart without trivializing the gravity of the horrific massacre in Anatolia.

I digress here to confess a lesson learned. Coming from a Hellenic heritage scared by 400 years of Ottoman occupation, I expected a larger Greek presence in this movie. My ethnocentric desire to see a Greek army coming to the Armenians' rescue, made me miss entirely the message conveyed in this work. I selfishly asked "...why were my people left out of this flick?" Fortunately, as the end of the movie approached, two thoughts came.

First, the Armenians deserve to have THEIR story told uncluttered by others. Besides, at least we Greeks HAD a country to escape to.

Second, I realized that my people were in the movie and yours were, too. The Cambodians under Pol Pot, Native Americans, the Armenians and the victims of Naziism in Europe: Gypsies, Homosexuals, the horribly so-called "Mental Deficients" the peasants/workers of Russia, and of course, the Jews, are all our people!

Perhaps someday when we realize that our Humanity is all we have to share with one another, such movies will no longer be necessary.

Well, screw those who would destroy History because truth hurts their feelings. The Armenian genocide happened, and whoever tries to censor this film will do so in vain, or so I hope.

The movie is good, in general Oscar Isaac doesn't disappoint, and Le Bon adorably shines. That said, the crude, sad part is hard enough to watch, especially when you consider what's been shown is a mild version of what happened.

It's a good movie, even though a ten is too much, I have to over-vote it to compensate for those who willingly down-vote in order to bury the truth in the sand. Worth to get to know what happened, if only because many wouldn't want you to.

If you've studied WWI a bit, you'll know that while the Ottoman Empire was crumbling a group called the "Young Turks" decided that Turkey would rid itself of everyone not Turkish. If you agreed to convert to Islam, you might be spared. So much happened and on such a large scale that you could easily do a mini-series, so the film is a little long and some conflation of things was necessary. It is not unrealistic that Armenians could escape from one situation and then simply find themselves driven from one horror to another. Yes, some Armenians were worked to death by the military, some escaped and tried to hide out, and yes, a few thousand were rescued off of Musa Dagh (a mountain), close to the Mediterranean Sea. Bottom line, this film manages to convey the horror of being hated simply for who you are and targeted for extermination. Oscar Isaac is just phenomenal, and the rest of the cast is very good. The incredible atrocities are played down, fact is if they showed the viewer even 15% of what happened in detail, it would make it hard to attract viewers. The genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks and other non-Turks is well documented and supported by historians in general. It's a historical fact. The only historians who try to downplay or deny there was a genocide are usually being supported financially by the Turkish government. Those who did not die were largely women/girls who were handed off to Turkish families. I would guess that a large portion of Turks do in fact have an Armenian grandmother or great grandmother. After years of the Turkish government threatening the diaspora and attacking anyone who insisted that this happened, it is extremely heartening that this film has been made.