Review of La Coupe (2014) by Griffin J — 02 Apr 2016

The Cut stars Tahar Rahim as an Armenian man who is taken away from his family by the Turkish military during World War I. This movie is a heart pounding and brutal piece of historical fiction set at the dawn of the Armenian genocide, and is not something to be taken lightly. It's the tale of an atrocity that is extremely relevant today due to its depiction of corrupt militaries, clashing of the Christian and Muslim religions, and refugees trying to escape from bloody conflict.

Tahar's character, Nazaret, is forced into slave labor by the Turkish government as the war rages across the continent. Once his crew of slaves complete their task they are sentenced to be executed, but Nazaret's executioner takes pity on him and merely ruptures the side of his throat rather than slicing it. However, this injury causes Nazaret to be a mute for the rest of the film, forcing him to bear witness to some of the worst humanity has to offer without having a word to retort. The Cut manages to shock and grab its audience all the way through... for the first half of the film.

The second half almost feels like director Fatih Akin didn't quite know what direction to take it in. Once the genocide is over, and the Turks leave, Nazaret sets out on a quest to find his twin daughters who have lived in a variety of spots around the world since their father was taken from them. What follows is a somewhat out of place globetrotting adventure that takes our hero to places like Cuba and even Minneapolis. This change of pace isn't helped by the fact that the film is awkwardly edited with abrupt cuts to some moments and uncomfortably sharp changes in tone from scene to scene. However, because of the variety of locations, the landscapes manage to steal the show. With the exception of one scene that had obvious green screen, the whole film looks beautiful, showing lush contrasts between Earth's different continents.

Overall, a flawed film but certainly one that is extremely relevant, gorgeous, and shocking throughout.