Review of The Promise (2017) by Rachel R — 22 Apr 2017

This is the BEST movie on the Armenian genocide that has been made up to now. Many theaters were SOLD OUT on the first weekend.

I could not hold myself and started crying near the end. But the friends we took who weren't Armenian were crying too !!! I remembered the stories my grandmother told me of how they raped women and tied her brother up and dragged him through the streets with a horse until he died.

Some of the things that I liked about the movie were:

A) They rose above the vengefulness/retaliation issue by showing a Turk helping an Armenian and an American. Not all Turks or people of any nationality are bad. I do not want the world to think that the Armenians want revenge. We are very forgiving and helpful people.

B) I liked how Anna responded back to Michael when in anger he said that he wanted revenge after all the members of his family were slaughtered by the Turks: "Our revenge will be to survive" This further reinforces that we just want recognition that the genocide occurred (so that future genocides will not be attempted on other nationalities/races of people.).

C) I thought they showed the impact of the killings on the survivors very well. The orphans left behind were devastating to watch.

D) I liked Micael's comment to Chris reporting on the killings and then being able to go back to a comfortable life. The Armenians who survived lost family members and could not go back to any form of normalcy. They all had to start from scratch in a new country. This may encourage others (who live in a safe country and are not involved in ethnic cleansing) to get involved and help the victims in other countries.

E) I did not think the love triangle was a cheesy addition. I do not think the public is willing to watch two hours of senseless killings and brutality. They needed to implement a relief so we could all take a breath and it also added to the plot.

F) I appreciate that they gave credit and showed our gratitude to the French Red Cross for the rescues and US Ambassador Henry Morgenthau for bringing to light the fact that it was NOT a war but a massacre.

G) I loved the quotes at the end of the movie from William Saroyan and others.

H) All in all, I think the movies director, Terry George, fulfilled his commitment to make a movie that can be shown to teenagers in high school and added to the curriculum of history classes.