Ararat Movie Review 2002

The slaughter of more than one million Armenians by the Turks in 1915 is the difficult subject matter of Canadian/Armenian director Egoyan's historically-themed drama. Excellent ensemble cast portrays characters in modern-day Toronto who deal with pasts that have been affected by the event in different ways. A director (Aznavour) revisits his roots by making a movie about the Armenian genocide. An expert (Egoyan's wife Khanjian) on Armenian painter Gorky deals with her son (Alpay), whose father was killed after attempting to assassinate a Turkish diplomat, and stepdaughter (Croze), who's father committed suicide. Frequent Egoyan collaborator Greenwood turns up as an actor portraying a real-life U.S. doctor in Turkey during that era who published a book about the events. Stylistically intricate, which may leave some confused, but the heartfelt message is not lost in the crowd.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 116 minutes.
Originally from Canadian.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Filmmaking, Flashback, Canada, Toronto, Suicide, Stepparents

Screenplay

Atom Egoyan

Cast

Charles Aznavour, Eric Bogosian, Brent Carver, David Alpay, Marie Josee Croze, Arsinee Khanjian, Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Christopher Plummer, Simon Abkarian

Cinematography

Paul Sarossy

Director

Atom Egoyan

Music

Mychael Danna

Other

Steven Munro, Ross Redfern, Susan Shipton, Katherine Climie, Beth Pasternak, Phillip Barker

Producer

Robert Lantos, Atom Egoyan, Alliance Atlantis Communications, Serendipity Point Films, Miramax Films

Awards

Genie 2002: Actress (Khanjian), Costume Des., Film, Support. Actor (Koteas), Score.