Ararat
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Ararat
Plot
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan explores his Armenian heritage, and how the country's tragic history has touched several generations of the nation's expatriates, in this ambitious drama. Edward Saroyan (Charles Aznavour), a veteran filmmaker of Armenian descent, is in Toronto shooting a film about the Siege of Van, in which invading Ottoman armies forced the evacuation of Armenian communities in 1915, leading to the genocide of over a million Armenian people at the hands of Turkish troops. Twenty-one-year-old Raffi (David Alpay) has been sent to Turkey to shoot background footage for the film; Raffi's mother Ani (Arsinee Khanjian), an author and historian, is also involved in the project as a consultant. Lately Raffi and Ani have been at odds; Raffi has been dating Celia (Marie-Josee Croze), Ani's stepdaughter, who is convinced that Ani is somehow responsible for the death of her father. Ani's first husband, who was Raffi's father, is also dead, after taking part in an assassination attempt on a Turkish political leader. As Raffi attempts to re-enter Canada with cans of exposed film, he's detained by David (Christopher Plummer), a suspicious customs official who has his own tenuous link to Saroyan's film -- David is struggling to come to terms with the gay lifestyle of his son Philip (Brent Carver), whose lover Ali (Elias Koteas) is playing the villain in the picture. Ararat also features Eric Bogosian and Bruce Greenwood. ~ Mark Deming, RoviReview
Ararat addresses a very emotional historical issue, the 1915 Armenian massacre, in a relatively detached and cerebral manner. The film's nonlinear structure, deliberate pace, somewhat opaque characterization, and themes of obsession and dysfunctional family relationships won't come as a great surprise to viewers familiar with writer-director Atom Egoyan's other films. However, those who are unfamiliar with his previous work and expect a historical drama about the Armenian massacre may be surprised to find that he cultivates emotional distance by telling this historical tale through a film-within-a-film and intertwining this story with several murky subplots. Indeed, Ararat could be considered less a film about the massacre itself than an exploration of the nature of mediated images and the difficulty of discovering the truth, which are themes that Egoyan has explored in previous films as well. This approach results in a movie that's filled with interesting ideas (although perhaps not as original or provocative as Egoyan may have hoped) but isn't engaging on an emotional level. Furthermore, some parts of the film feel unresolved (such as Raffi's reasons for going to Turkey and the details behind his father's death) while others seem overly contrived (particularly the way Egoyan uses the sequences in which a customs official interrogates Raffi as a pretext to lecture the audience on Armenian history). Egoyan deserves credit for creating a film that addresses this important but often neglected part of history while simultaneously acknowledging the difficulty in using movies to tell history, but it's unfortunate that he didn't make a film that was less cryptic and more affecting. ~ Todd Kristel, RoviCast
- David Alpay - Raffi
- Charles Aznavour - Edward Saroyan
- Eric Bogosian - Rouben
- Brent Carver - Philip
- Marie-Josée Croze - Celia
Credit
Kathleen Climie - Art Director, Katherine Climie - Art Director, Simone Urdl - Associate Producer, Julia Rosenberg - Associate Producer, John Buchan - Casting, Jenny Lewis - Casting, David J. Webb - Consultant/advisor, Charles A. Taylor - Consultant/advisor, Nicolas Dodd - Conductor, Al J. Vrkljan - Conductor, Dave Spence-Sales - Conductor, Sandra Cunningham - Co-producer, Beth Pasternak - Costume Designer, Fergus Barnes - First Assistant Director, Joanne D. Malo - First Assistant Director, Garfield Russell - First Assistant Director, Matthew Kershaw - First Assistant Director, Atom Egoyan - Director, Susan Shipton - Editor, Vincent Sullivan - Hair Styles, Eardley Wilmot - Location Manager, Robert Hilton - Location Manager, Mychael Danna - Composer (Music Score), Sylvain Cournoyer - Makeup, Cam MacDonald - Camera Operator, Phillip Barker - Production Designer, Paul Sarossy - Cinematographer, Janine Anderton - Production Manager, Atom Egoyan - Producer, Robert Lantos - Producer, Don White - Recording, American Folk - Recording, Stepan Beroojanian - Recording, Ron Mellegers - Recording, Peter Flood - Set Designer, Patricia Cuccia - Set Designer, Ali Murva - Special Effects, Steve Munro - Sound/Sound Designer, Ross Redfern - Sound/Sound Designer, Ross Redfern - Sound Recordist, Jamie Jones - Stunts Coordinator, Guy Bews - Stunts Coordinator, Atom Egoyan - Screenwriter, Ken Cade - Sound Effects Editor, Rick Parker - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, T.J. Bews - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Greg Choporian - Historical Consultant, Paul Intson - Music Editor, Mychael Danna - Music Producer, Isabel Bayraksarian - Musical Performer, Gevork Dabaghian - Musical Performer, Grigor Takushian - Musical Performer, Kamo Khachaturian - Musical Performer, Levon Tevanian - Musical Performer, Artyom Khachaturian - Musical Performer, Karine Hovhannisian - Musical Performer, Tigran Ambarian - Musical Performer, Norayr Kartashian - Musical Performer, Andranik Michaelian - Musical Performer, Stepan Beroojanian - Musical Performer, Douglas Wilkinson - Post Production Supervisor, Kim Goddard-Rains - Production Coordinator, American Folk - Production Coordinator, Andranik Michaelian - Production Coordinator, Francois Dagenais - Prosthetic Makeup Effects, David Fraser - Screenplay Consultant, Joanne Harwood - Script Supervisor, Jordan Craig - Special Effects Coordinator, Performance Solutions - Special Effects Coordinator, Manuel Keusseyan - Translator, Sue Conley - ADR Editor, Greg Shim - ADR Recordist, Dave Yonson - ADR Recordist, Brent Roach - ADR Recordist, An Henshaw - Costumes Supervisor, David Dranie Taylor - Dialogue Editor, Andy Malcolm - Foley Artist, Goro Koyama - Foley Artist, Andrew Rosen - Production Executive, Ian Nelmes - Scenic Artist, Mr. X Inc. - Visual Effects, Film Effects - Title Design| Aran (1979 Film), Arakimentari (2003 Film) | |
| Ararat - Fourteen Views (2007 Film), Araromire (2009 Film) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Ararat (film)
| Ararat | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Atom Egoyan |
| Produced by | Atom Egoyan Robert Lantos |
| Written by | Atom Egoyan |
| Starring | Charles Aznavour Christopher Plummer David Alpay Arsinée Khanjian Eric Bogosian |
| Music by | Mychael Danna |
| Cinematography | Paul Sarossy |
| Editing by | Susan Shipton |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | Canada ‹See Tfd› France |
| Language | English Armenian French German |
| Budget | $15.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $2,743,336[1] |
Ararat is a 2002 Franco-Canadian drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Atom Egoyan based loosely on the Siege of Van during the Armenian Genocide, an event that is disputed by the government of Turkey. In addition to exploring the human impact of that specific historical event, the film also examines the nature of truth and its representation through art. Ararat stars Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, and David Alpay.
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Contents
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Cast
- Charles Aznavour as Edward Saroyan
- Christopher Plummer as David
- David Alpay as Raffi
- Arsinée Khanjian as Ani
- Eric Bogosian as Rouben
- Marie-Josée Croze as Celia
- Brent Carver as Philip
- Bruce Greenwood as Martin Harcourt, the actor playing Clarence Ussher
- Elias Koteas as Ali, the actor playing Jevdet Bey
- Lousnak as Shoushan, mother of Arshile Gorky
- Simon Abkarian as Arshile Gorky
- Garen Boyajian as young Arshile Gorky
Background and structure
Ararat depicts the efforts of an Armenian director, Edward Saroyan, to make a Hollywood-style film about the Armenian genocide, from the fictionalised point of view of a genuine historical figure, Arshile Gorky. The name of Aznavour's character is a modified version of his character's real name in the classic French film Shoot the Piano Player.
As filming progresses, various characters involved with it encounter the ethical problems that arise when adaptating contentious subjects into movies; for example, Ali is a Turkish-Canadian actor who becomes uncomfortable with playing the role of an evil Turkish military officer. There are also a number of secondary plots that relate to the genocide. One involves the relationship between Ani, an art historian who is an expert on Gorky and an adviser on Saroyan's film, and her son Raffi. Another features Raffi and a Canadian customs official, David, whose son is having a homosexual relationship with Ali, the actor in Saroyan's film. David stops Raffi at the airport, suspecting him of carrying drugs into Canada, disguised as film canisters.
The film also features roughly shot documentary camcorder footage of Lake Van and real ruined Armenian churches in the deserted city of Ani, near Mount Ararat.
Release
The film was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[2] It was then given only a limited release in most countries, and failed to make a significant gross at the box office.[1]
The Italian release of Ararat was intended to for 24 April 2003. However, its showing was unexpectedly banned by Italian authorities a day before the planned release, with the authorities explaining that the film's distributor had failed to submit in time the application to obtain the required censorship certificate. The film's distributor BIM Diztribuzione stated that they had never encountered such a problem before. There was media speculation that the film had actually been banned at the request of Turkey.[3]
Critical reception
Critical reception was mixed. Ararat received a 57% rating at Rotten Tomatoes[4] and a metascore of 62 ("Generally favorable reviews") at Metacritic.[5]
Accolades
Ararat won several awards. At the 2003 Genie Awards for best Canadian film, it was named best film of the year, and picked up awards for costume design and original score; in addition, Arsinée Khanjian won the best actress award and Elias Koteas best supporting actor. Egoyan won a prize from the Writers Guild of Canada awards, 2003. The film also won an award for best human rights film from the Political Film Society, and won the Golden Apricot at the Yerevan International Film Festival, 2004. An edited version of Ararat has been shown on the Turkish television station Kanal Turk.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Ararat at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Ararat". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3158397/year/2002.html. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ Asbarez Online (04-28-2003) "Italy Bans Release of Atom Egoyan's Ararat".
- ^ Ararat at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
- ^ Ararat at Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
External links
- Official website
- Ararat at the Internet Movie Database
- Ararat at AllRovi
- Ararat at Box Office Mojo
- Ararat at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ararat at Metacritic
- Canadian Film Encyclopedia
- Moving the Mountain - Time Magazine
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