Movies - Ararat

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Ararat is a 2002 film by Atom Egoyan about the Armenian Genocide, an event that is denied to this day by the government of Turkey. Instead of presenting a straightforward narrative account of the genocide, the film examines the nature of truth and how it can be represented on film.

Background and structure

Egoyan is Armenian-Canadian, and as one of the few well-known Armenian filmmakers had long been encouraged to make a film about the genocide. However, Egoyan's previous films had all demonstrated an interest in the impossibility of knowing absolute truth. Egoyan thus made Ararat deliberately self-referential. It depicts the efforts of an Armenian director, Edward Saroyan, to make a Hollywood-style film about the genocide, from the fictionalised point of view of a genuine historical figure, Arshile Gorky.

Ararat thus includes graphic sequences depicting the horrors of the genocide, but they are always framed as scenes from Saroyan's film-within-the-film. Furthermore, the actors and filmmakers are shown discussing the ethical problems that arise when adaptating contentious subjects into simplistic movies; for example, Elias Koteas plays a Turkish-Canadian actor who becomes increasingly uncomfortable with playing the role of an evil Turkish military officer in Saroyan's film. In addition, Saroyan's glossy film is contrasted with camcorder footage of real ruined Armenian churches in the city of Ani, near Mount Ararat.

Responses

The film was attacked as propaganda by those who believe that the Armenian Genocide was overblown by anti-Turkish elements and Armenians seeking sympathy, or that it was necessitated by world politics and the behavior of Turkish-Armenians. It was also attacked by those with opposing viewpoints, who felt that the film's questioning of the nature of truth raised unwarranted doubts about the genocide.

The film was given only a limited release in most countries, and failed to make a significant gross at the box office.

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 Khanijan 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.

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Movies - Ararat

Background and structure

Responses

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