The Promise: A Movie Review and Remembering the Armenian Genocide

I didn’t know much about the Armenian genocide until I watched The Promise(2016) several years ago. This weekend, I rewatched it again. It has a 91% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

From the years 1914-1923, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were systemically murdered. This event is often not taught in schools. As a consequence, many don’t know about it.

During 1914, the Ottoman territory housed approximately 1.5-2 million Armenians. Nearly all of them were brutally removed within ten years by the Ottoman Turk Empire, and supported by German military advisors and equipment from the Kaiser. The Armenian genocide would tragically and eventually inspire The Jewish Holocaust(the Shoah). I wonder that if the Armenian genocide had been acknowledged that the Shoah might have been avoided?

Somehow in school, the Armenian genocide never made it into my textbooks or course work. I did not know the history of the Armenian people, and I definitely did not know about their struggle to survive the 20th century. Indeed, I am still learning about it. Armenians are a deeply Christian people. They were the first nation to adopt Christianity as its state religion in 300AD. “Armenians” is a name given to them by their neighbors. The people of the area are said to be descended from Noah.

The name “Armenia” was actually given to the
country by its neighbors; inhabitants of Armenia refer to it as
“Hayastan” derived from the name Haik, a descendent of Noah
(from the Bible), and “stan” which means “land” in Persian.
The Armenian language is unique from other Indo-European
languages, with its own distinct letters and grammar.

Prior to learning all of this, I came across an extraordinary movie called The Promise(2016). Oscar Isaac(Mikael Boghosian), Christian Bale(Chris Myers), And Charlotte Le Bon(Ana Khesarian) anchor a very recognizable cast. Shohreh Aghdashloo even makes an appearance. Though the film is historical fiction, the slaughter of the Armenian people is precisely accurate – Taalat Pasha is a very real Ottoman leader and beyond ruthless. (In fact, to this day the Turkish government refuses to take responsibility for the holocaust of the Armenian people.) The movie is brilliantly set and filmed in Portugal, Malta, and Spain. I highly recommend this movie. It is well made, beautifully filmed, and it connects us to a part of history which is incredibly important as it was forgotten and repeated again 20 years later against the Jewish people.

This movie is a reminder of both the immense bravery and cruelty that civilization can generate. It is a reminder that nation’s now possess great technological power to systemically dispose of entire cultures. Those who promote war should proceed with extreme caution. There are times when wars must be fought, but we must respect and remember the immense destruction, dislocation, and deep anguish which accompany it.

ProTip: You will find that a common theme in this blog is connecting to our history. I don’t think the study of the Armenian genocide is too heavy for middle and high school students. They need to know history – both the good and the bad. The Armenian people are skilled craftsmen. Their culture is rich and ancient. Thus, Armenian culture, history, and their people are very worthy of our academic study.

I have linked several sources above, but here are the links listed plainly…

https://genocideeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/A-Brief-History-of-the-Armenian-Genocide.pdf

https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/armenia

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-promise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promise_(2016_film)