Cinema: Despite US reviews, this $100 million epic set in the Ottoman Empire’s dying days is a cracker

Three stars

Director Terry George

Starring Christian Bale, Oscaar Isaacs, Charlotte Le Bon

Rating M

Running time 133 minutes

Verdict Historical drama delivers a powerful message

THE story behind this big budget epic, which has been the subject of IMDB vote-rigging allegations, is perhaps more interesting than the film itself.

Before he died, self-made billionaire Kirk Kerkorian funded The Promise to the tune of $US100 million to shine a light on systematic extermination of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians between 1914 and 1923.

Turkish authorities have consistently refused to acknowledge the genocide. (As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to officially do so. But when he gained office, “genocide” was dialled back to “mass atrocity” because the US needed Turkey’s help in fighting Islamic State.)

In this context, it’s entirely plausible that the stream of one-star reviews that flooded the website prior to the film’s release were politically-motivated, as suggested by director Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).

But the response from named critics writing in influential publications has also been fairly tepid.

Oscar Isaac lends a sympathetic integrity to the role of Mickael Boghosian, an Armenian apothecary who betroths himself to a young woman from his village in Southern Turkey so he can use the dowry to put himself through medical school.

This, presumably, is the promise of the title, but its potency peters out midway through the story. The ultimate commitment is one of survival.

In Constantinople, Boghosian meets the Paris-educated Ana (Charlotte Le Bon). The instant, mutual attraction is perhaps heightened by the pair’s shared Armenian heritage.

Further complicating matters is Christian Bale’s hard-drinking, heavy-hitting US war correspondent, with whom Ana is already in a relationship.

While the romantic rivalry plays out in a fairly predictable fashion, the horrendous events the three characters are caught up in during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire are little-canvassed enough to pack a real punch.

The Promise is no Dr Zhivago. But it delivers handsomely on Kerkorian’s original intent.

The Promise is now screening