The Promise (2017)
Starring Christian Bale, Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon | inspired by events surrounding the Armenian Genocide during the final years of the Ottoman Empire
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REAL FACE: |
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Talaat Pasha
Born: 1874
Birthplace: Kırcaali, Edirne Vilayet, Ottoman Empire
Death: March 15, 1921, Berlin, Germany (assassination)
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James Cromwell
Born: January 27, 1940
Birthplace:
Los Angeles, California, USA
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Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr.
Born: April 26, 1856
Birthplace: Mannheim, Baden, Germany
Death: November 25, 1946, New York City, New York, USA (cerebral hemorrhage)
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Jean Reno
Born: July 30, 1948
Birthplace:
Casablanca, French Protectorate of Morocco
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Admiral Louis Dartige du Fournet
Born: March 2, 1856
Birthplace: Putanges-Pont-Écrepin, France
Death: February 16, 1940
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When the Turkish authorities gave the orders for these deportations, they were merely giving the death warrant to a whole race; they understood this well, and, in their conversations with me, they made no particular attempt to conceal the fact. -Ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr.,
Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, 1918
Questioning the Story:How much of The Promise is based on a true story?The main characters and their storyline is fiction. This includes the love triangle between Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), a Paris-raised Armenian; her American journalist boyfriend Chris Myers (Christian Bale); and the Armenian medical student, Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), who falls in love with her. The love story was created by screenwriters Terry George and Robin Swicord. However, much like Doctor Zhivago, the major political events going on around these characters are largely factual. This includes the rounding up of Christian Armenians, which started the Armenian Genocide in April 1915. Whole villages were subsequently wiped out, as Mikael learns was the fate of his own village in the movie.
The love triangle between Chris (Christian Bale), Ana (Charlotte Le Bon) and Mikael (Oscar Isaac) is entirely fictional, as are the characters.
Yes. During our investigation into The Promise true story, we learned that the Turkish government refuses to acknowledge it as a genocide, saying that it was simply a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims (the latter of whom were the overwhelming majority). Most Turks do not believe that the extermination of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish military was a genocide. In fact, many don't acknowledge it at all, and others will only go as far as to call it a massacre. One reason it is not talked about in Turkey is because it is illegal to discuss the Armenian Genocide. With roughly 2 million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire prior to the killings, it's hard to deny that the extermination of 1.5 million of them was not a systematic attempt to wipe out an entire people. -History.com
Major newspapers at the time reported on the Armenian Genocide and the atrocities being committed by Muslim Turks against Christian Armenians.
At the time of this article (two days prior to the movie's release), there are 123,112 IMDB ratings for The Promise. That's more than for The Secret Life of Pets, one of the top grossing movies of 2016. Of the total votes, 61,416 are 1-star ratings and 59,966 are 10-star ratings. All of the ratings have so far happened prior to The Promise's release. The movie did screen at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2016, where there were only three showings. However, this opened the door to voting on IMDB, leading to the flood of fake ratings and the battle between Turkish deniers and Armenians.
Two days before the April 21, 2017 release, the fraudulent IMDB ratings for
The Promise are evident. 49.9% of users, almost all of whom had not seen the movie, gave it a 1-star rating and 48.7% gave it a 10-star rating.
So what's the solution for IMDB? One thing they could do would be to step in and wipe The Promise's ratings clean until the movie's release. That would at least prevent early fraudulent ratings and deter Armenian Genocide deniers from using the site as a propaganda tool. IMDB could also block Turks and Armenians from rating the movie altogether, which can easily be done by blocking the IP address ranges of the two countries. Without enough controversy and media attention calling them out, IMDB has instead chose to ignore the problem. One can only wonder how many people will steer clear of the film because they believe the false IMDB rating and in turn remain largely unaware of the Armenian Genocide. At this point, the filmmakers can only hope that public outrage grows enough to lift the rating and subdue the deniers.
Author Ronald Suny draws on documents and eyewitness accounts to explain how and why the atrocities against the Armenians were committed.
As The Promise waited to close a distribution deal, producer Eric Esrailian grew worried that buyers were being scared away by the movie's subject matter. "I'll just say that there are some studios that have business interests in Turkey, and you can form your own opinion." The Promise did eventually land a distributor in Open Road Films. However, the controversy is likely not over. Director Atom Egoyan, whose 2002 film Ararat featured a Hollywood director attempting to make a movie about the Armenian Genocide, felt the full weight of the denialist lobby. "It's going to be a tough ride," Egoyan says. In his case, Ararat's distributor Miramax and the studio's then-owner, Disney, were targeted, with Miramax receiving so many email complaints that the studio's website crashed. -Variety.com
Scratching away just an inch of sand starts to reveal the remains of some 450,000 Armenian Genocide victims whose bodies were buried in unmarked mass graves in the desert of Der Zor.
When Turkey entered World War I with Germany in 1914, Armenia, fed up with centuries of Turkish mistreatment, turned on them and aligned themselves with their Christian neighbor, Russia. This prompted Turkey to declare holy war on all Christians who weren't allied with them, including Armenia. The Turkish government wanted Armenians removed from all war zones, an effort that foreshadowed the genocide that would soon follow. -ThePromisetoAct.org
Armenians being deported in real life in 1915 (top) and in
The Promise movie (bottom).
Yes. According to most Armenians, the genocide started when several hundred Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were rounded up and sent on a death march through the desert on April 24, 1915. They were given no water or food, which resulted in hundreds dying. In reality, deportations of Armenians really began two weeks earlier on April 8 in Zeytun, but the 24th is the date most often cited.
The start of the Armenian Genocide is considered to be the night of April 23-24th, when Armenian intellectuals were arrested and then deported and killed.
Approximately 25 concentration camps were set up, including labor camps like the one Mikael (Oscar Isaac) is imprisoned in until he escapes in the movie. Others who weren't killed or sent to camps were deported from the region altogether. However, many never made it out, as they were either massacred on the way or succumbed to starvation and exhaustion. It was all part of Turkey's plan to disguise extermination as deportation.
An Armenian woman in a field kneels beside her dead child with the help and safety of Aleppo, Syria in sight. With many succumbing to starvation and exhaustion, Turkey used deportation marches as a guise for extermination.
Yes. The shocking request is based in fact. According to Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Talaat demanded that he turn over the names of Armenians who had American life insurance policies so that the state could collect the payouts. Morgenthau categorically denied Talaat's request, calling it "one of the most astonishing requests I have ever heard." -Ambassador Morgenthau's Story
Did Armenian refugees really escape down a mountainside to the coast like in the movie?Yes. While exploring The Promise true story, we learned that this scenario is indeed based in historical fact. In the movie, Mikael (Oscar Isaac) and Ana (Charlotte Le Bon) link up with a large group of refugees who are forced to hold off the Turks as they escape down the side of a mountain to the coast. The French Navy has come to their aide with Chris (Christian Bale) in tow. In real life, some 4,000 Armenian civilians successfully fought off Ottoman Turkish forces for 53 days in 1915 after retreating to the highest town on Musa Dagh, a mountain in the Hatay province of Turkey near the Mediterranean Coast. Just as their ammo and food was almost gone, they escaped down the backside of the mountain and were rescued by the French Navy. The event inspired Franz Werfel to pen his novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh.
In the movie, Ana (Charlotte Le Bon) and a large group of fellow Armenian refugees escape down the backside of a mountain with the help of the French Navy who arrives to rescue them.
Dig deeper into The Promise movie true story by watching the videos below, including modern-day Turks denying the Armenian Genocide on camera. Then watch The Promise movie trailer.
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