The Promise * * *

What? With Viceroy's House, Neruda, Churchill and now this, we got Historical political dramas coming out our ears this year.  

      The Promise is about the fall of The Ottoman Empire and the horrifying fate of the Armenian people, who apparently lived in relative harmony with the Turks until 1914.

      This is a sweeping drama that isn’t afraid of hundreds of extras and convincing locations.  It’s almost like those 1950’s biblical films in its grandeur.

Not impressed by The Young Turks

       To tell the story the creators have come up with your classic love triangle - two good blokes and a pretty girl. All are very good looking, brave and tireless.  Whilst the secondary players, their  dear friends, who they mutually love, would die rather then ever betray them - all the classic scenarios.

     But the most important thing is that it gives insight into the prejudice and cruelty that the Armenians suffered: Their villages were despoiled, and even as they tried to escape they were denied any relief and were killed for any reason. They were systematically starved of food and every resource.

     I have read about the Armenian genocide - an event the Turks deny to this day - but I do not recall having seen a feature film on it before, but there probably is.  Nevertheless this has been warmly embraced in some quarters simply because it is reminding people what happened.

     It could be said that The Promise, romanticizes the event perhaps a little too much: but if it showed what happened in all its brutal ugliness, would anyone want to watch it?