The Promise

Year: 2016
Genre: Drama
Directed: Terry George
Stars: Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Marwan Kenzari, Angela Sarafyan, Tom Hollander, Numan Acar, Igal Naor, Milene Mayer, Tamer Hassan, Jean Reno
Production: Open Road Films

Watching The Promise can make one wonder why there aren't too many films about the Armenian Genocide. To my recollection only Atom Egoyan's Ararat (2002) and Henri Verneuil's Mayrig (1991) dealt with the subject though in rather indirect ways. The survivors of such cruelty would be served well to have their stories engraved in celluloid and, without sounding too callous, the larger geo-political climate, the filigree of the time-period and the exotic Turkish countryside only yields the ability to tell truly beautiful films.

Also beautiful facial hair...

Perhaps this was the motivation behind director Terry George's return to form. To tell a story worth telling. The Promise however is not a true story, but a historical fiction that follows a love-triangle through the Ottoman's entrance into WWI to the Armenian resistance battle at Musa Dagh in 1915. Our participants, Armenian medical student Mikael (Isaac), ballet instructor Ana (Le Bon) and American reporter Chris (Bale) are all trying to do the right thing. Apparently doing the right thing involves being on the periphery of important events and mournfully shaking their head as things fall apart around them.

This is not to say doing historical fiction like this isn't a winning formula; I mean it's not like Jack and Rose stopped the sinking of the Titanic. Yet the issue with The Promise is it distracts from the impact of those important events and instead doubles down on the saccharine, emotionally reserved and at times just plain silly pinings of Oscar Isaac and his ferreted eye brows.

For the record Isaac, Bale and especially Le Bon are acting rather hard for this movie. If you squint and tilt your head you can almost see what they were going for, and even if you didn't it's still obvious their talents are worth a much better movie. Le Bon simply oozes sincerity while Bale coasts on his signature brood to give us his version of a hard-scrabbled, morally pugnacious journalist. A version that occasionally feels like you're watching a 1940's propaganda piece gently courting American audiences into the war effort.

I say, those swarthy Ottomans are up to no good! If only there was an American around!

As for the "time-period and the exotic Turkish countryside," director Terry George and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe appear to be in the midst of a social experiment. That experiment being how ugly can they make the Portuguese countryside (doubling for Turkey) look without the audience noticing. The interiors are even worse with everything layered in misshapen shadows and back lit like a cheaply made Fanta commercial.

I suspect somewhere in the hours of footage filmed there's a much better movie than the one we got. The story, as false footed as it is, has the potential to be satisfying while the acting can be chalked up as a modest triumph. What will no doubt win over most audiences however is their own innate humanism in the face of adversity and horror. People will no doubt project their own narratives of historical events onto the plain muslin of the screen, maybe going so far as to draw contemporary parallels. Such instincts should be encouraged and rewarded by films worthy of contemplation. The Promise's heart is definitely in the right place but a worthy film it is not.

Final Grade: C