Ararat (2002) on Netflix
Raffi works on a film about the Armenian genocide in Toronto while his mother Ani serves as its historical consultant. A Turkish Canadian actor cast as an Ottoman governor clashes with him.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb6.3/1015,080 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes55%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Toronto, Ani, an Armenian Canadian widow, gives art history presentations on the painter Arshile Gorky, and Celia, the step-sister of Ani's son Raffi, attends them to publicly challenge Ani's account of how Celia's father died. An Armenian filmmaker, Edward Saroyan, arrives to film the story of the Armenian genocide and the Van Resistance, with Ani advising on its history and Raffi working alongside her. A Turkish Canadian actor, Ali, wins the role of the Ottoman governor Jevdet Bey and reads about the genocide for the first time. When Ali says the Ottomans thought World War I justified what they did, Raffi points out that the Armenians belonged to the Ottoman state rather than being a people the Turks were fighting. Ali replies that both men were born in Canada and should move past the genocide.
Cast
- Christie MacFadyenas Janet
- Dawn Roachas Customs Officer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ararat (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Italy's planned 24 April 2003 release of Ararat was banned a day before it was to open, with authorities saying the distributor missed the deadline for a mandatory censorship certificate. Turkey's embassy in Rome acknowledged its government did not want the film shown in Italy, but denied a role in the decision.
- Turkey's government first said it would oppose Ararat as much as possible, then granted permission because it was trying to increase freedom of expression to join the European Union. Belge Film opted not to release it there after nationalists pledged to "take action"; it ran on the Turkish TV station Kanaltürk four years later.
- Director Atom Egoyan, an Armenian Canadian whose ancestors were lost in the genocide, made Ararat as a response to a question from his son, then about six: "Did the Turks say sorry?"
- When Ararat came out in 2002, it was the only film about the Armenian genocide showing in commercial theaters in the United States in the modern era.
- Ethnic Turks in Canada proposed boycotting Disney and its subsidiaries over Ararat, and nationalist critics emailed director Atom Egoyan arguing the film's premise was untrue. Some sent threats that its release could endanger Armenians in Turkey.
- Ararat could not be shot in Turkey or at the real Mount Ararat because of Turkey's denial of the genocide, so other scenes were shot at Cherry Beach in Toronto.
- The Defense of Van battle scenes were shot in Drumheller, Alberta, with some of the soldiers on screen computer generated, and the Van villages were computer generated as well.
