Ararat (2002)
Ararat (2002)
Xvid 704x400 23.98fps 1299Kbps | English Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 192Kbps | 01:55:06 | 1.20 Gb
Subtitles: Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Turkish
History/Drama | Director: Atom Egoyan | Stars: Charles Aznavour, Brent Carver and Eric Bogosian
Xvid 704x400 23.98fps 1299Kbps | English Dolby AC3 48000Hz stereo 192Kbps | 01:55:06 | 1.20 Gb
Subtitles: Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Turkish
History/Drama | Director: Atom Egoyan | Stars: Charles Aznavour, Brent Carver and Eric Bogosian
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide claims.
People tell stories. In Toronto, an art historian lectures on Arshile Gorky (1904?-1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the genocide in Turkey in 1915. A director invites the historian to help him include Gorky's story in a film about the genocide and Turkish assault on the town of Van. The historian's family is under stress: her son is in love with his step-sister, who blames the historian for the death of her father. The daughter wants to revisit her father's death and change that story. An aging customs agent tells his son about his long interview with the historian's son, who has returned from Turkey with canisters of film. Parents and children. All the stories connect.
Ararat (2002)
Was screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Atom Egoyan's prior film ( Felicia's Journey ) and his subsequent film ( Where the Truth Lies ) were both nominated for the Palme D'Or at Cannes.
Ararat (2002)
If you are expecting a historic epic about the Armenian genocide this isn't it.
Instead it is a finely crafted, tightly directed look at the historical events of 1915 and how it has affected those that followed. Focusing on four generations, from an Armenian artist who survived the genocide in Van through to Raffi, a Canadian Armenian in his early twenties (played brilliantly by David Alpay in his professional debut) you need to know nothing about the history to get something from this film about the nature of humanity.
The direction is Egoyan's usual unusual style - juxtaposing images one on top of the other to stunning effect, although his narrative style of jumping from thread to thread (and generation to generation) does take some getting used to.
This film will be controversial because of the subject matter, but it isn't two hours of Turk bashing, despite what some of its more biased detractors would say. It does take several of the oft quoted explanations for the genocide and answer them head on, but there are no easy answers.
Ararat (2002)
Ararat (2002)
Ararat (2002)
Ararat (2002)
No more mirrors!