Mikael, an Armenian apothecary in idyllic foothills of the Ottoman Empire, knows he could be doing more. Betrothing himself to the daughter of a local wealthy man, he uses the sizable dowry to travel to Constantinople and attend medical school. There, enchanted by city life and the multicultural pleasures at every turn, he meets Ana, a dancer and mentor to his young cousins, with whom Mikael is living. Charming and vivacious, Ana is also Armenian but had been raised in Paris, and she is romantically involved with an American reporter named Chris. Set in the beautiful, bustling city during and after World War I, this film follows these three lovers through their toils of the heart. It's such a shame that their romantic triangle was broken up by the Armenian Genocide.
Perhaps that's too harsh. The Promise is, in retrospect, one of the very few films about the tragic holocaust, and as such it deserves more praise. The events it depicts are still denied by some, and the Turkish government still refuses to call it a genocide, even though the word was coined in 1943 to describe the horrors inflicted on the Armenian people, among others. The film effectively dramatizes the hows and wheres and whos of the mass killings, and succeeds in involving us emotionally with the fear and chaos felt by the Armenians.
Where the film falters, however, is in the whys. It seems to intentionally avoid delving into the cultural factors and social atmosphere, content to rather hint and suggest, making the events feel like a natural byproduct of living in close quarters with other cultures and ethnic groups. While that may be historically debatable, I would have been far more interested in seeing a modern dramatization of motivations, conflicts, and real-life consequences than in episodic slices of fictional life.
Actually, I think my problem with the film is a similar problem I have with historical fiction that attempts to take on iconic moments in history. In essence: The Promise does not take inspiration from the ilk of Schindler's List or Zero Dark Thirty, but rather from Titanic or Colonia (to use a recent example). Rather than focusing on the epic journey of a person or a people through hell to their fate, or using history as the main narrative frame on which the drama may be hung, The Promise relies on the predictably soapy drama to push the story while the riveting history becomes little more than set dressing. While the latter can be done well (just look at Titanic), those examples are few and far between, and are only accomplished when the drama is expertly written, paced carefully, and envisioned with honesty and novelty. This one doesn't have those benefits.
I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the picture. Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (The Others, The Twilight Saga, The Road, Blue Jasmine) knows exactly what he's doing and allows the pulsing color and light of his images to capture our attention. The cast does its best with the material, and our leads turn out solid work; Christian Bale seems distinctly out of place, but he's only occasionally on screen here. Of course, I'd watch Oscar Isaac do literally anything, and personal favorite Shohreh Aghdashloo makes any movie for me. Director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda, Reservation Road) obviously means well, though he utterly fails to balance the film and its narrative swings from clumsy to simple like a leaden pendulum. A film eponymously promising great things deserved far better.
IMDb: The Promise
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