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Review: 1915 (2015)
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Mark R. Leeper
Apr 21, 2015, 9:10:24 AM4/21/15
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1915
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a fictional story set in the present
about the production of a fictional play about the
1915 Armenian holocaust when 1.5 million people were
killed. That is too many layers of fiction between
the viewer and the historic fact. The film covers the
issue of today's people and their responsibility to
keep alive the past. But this is a film with better
intentions than execution. There are stories about
this period that desperately need to be told, but we
are just too many levels removed from what is at heart
certainly not the most compelling story of the
experience. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
If one wants to come to understand what happened in the 1930s and
1940s European holocaust there are any number of film
dramatizations of those events to help. There are films like
SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE PIANIST, NIGHT AND FOG, THE DIARY OF ANNE
FRANK, and THE GREY ZONE. But these films are about another
holocaust. There is very little information in cinema about the
1915 to 1923 genocide of the Armenian people by the Turks.
Wikipedia list only thirteen films on the subject and only two or
three are in English. The only one I have seen was Atom Egoyan's
ARARAT (2002). But that film was not about the history of those
days primarily, it was about a (then) modern-day film company
making a film about the genocide. The film that was desperately
needed so people will not forget the genocide was not ARARAT, but
the film that was being made in ARARAT. Sadly, that film within a
film was not made instead of Egoyan's film.
Simon (played by Simon Abkarian) has written a play that will have
one single performance. And then the play will be performed in
what appears to be a tiny audience in a beautiful antique theater
that mysteriously has gone unused for seven years. There are
several things happening that stand in the way of the production.
The theater is as intriguing as the play being presented. There
are mysterious accidents. There is even a suggestion that what is
happening is in the realm of the supernatural. Understandably the
local Turkish community is protesting a play about Turkish
barbarity. But even the Armenian community is protesting the
play's production because they are afraid it would distort history.
Even the play is unsatisfying. In it, an attractive Armenian woman
is given the choice of escaping the killings with the protection of
an amorous Turk or dying with her people. One could argue that the
real horror of the history is with the people who are given no
choice at all.
1915 is a film written and directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec
Mouhibian. It is a short 82 minutes long. Yes, it is about the
Armenian genocide, among other things. It also has discussions
about the nature of acting that I would have expected more from
BIRDMAN. There are philosophical nuggets like, "The wound has to
sting before it can heal." What we learn of the genocide is in
five or six sound bytes. It fails in precisely the same way that
ARARAT fails. Obviously Simon's play cannot be a big spectacular
production within his budget, but he could tell more directly the
history in a small personal story like THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.
This is not a bad film by any means. It is intriguing, but it
could have been more effective. It leaves the viewer with
bewilderment where it could have left him with conviction.
Admittedly, it is not quite fair complaining about what 1915 *was
not* instead of what it *was*, but there is a real need to document
the Armenian experience before too much time passes and too much is
forgotten. I want to know more about the history of the Armenian
Massacre but found myself being told of the problems producing a
play in current-day Los Angeles. The film suggests that that this
is history that is being forgotten while doing almost nothing to
preserve the memories. I rate 1915 a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10.
Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781762/combined>
What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771415682/>
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2015 Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a fictional story set in the present
about the production of a fictional play about the
1915 Armenian holocaust when 1.5 million people were
killed. That is too many layers of fiction between
the viewer and the historic fact. The film covers the
issue of today's people and their responsibility to
keep alive the past. But this is a film with better
intentions than execution. There are stories about
this period that desperately need to be told, but we
are just too many levels removed from what is at heart
certainly not the most compelling story of the
experience. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10
If one wants to come to understand what happened in the 1930s and
1940s European holocaust there are any number of film
dramatizations of those events to help. There are films like
SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE PIANIST, NIGHT AND FOG, THE DIARY OF ANNE
FRANK, and THE GREY ZONE. But these films are about another
holocaust. There is very little information in cinema about the
1915 to 1923 genocide of the Armenian people by the Turks.
Wikipedia list only thirteen films on the subject and only two or
three are in English. The only one I have seen was Atom Egoyan's
ARARAT (2002). But that film was not about the history of those
days primarily, it was about a (then) modern-day film company
making a film about the genocide. The film that was desperately
needed so people will not forget the genocide was not ARARAT, but
the film that was being made in ARARAT. Sadly, that film within a
film was not made instead of Egoyan's film.
Simon (played by Simon Abkarian) has written a play that will have
one single performance. And then the play will be performed in
what appears to be a tiny audience in a beautiful antique theater
that mysteriously has gone unused for seven years. There are
several things happening that stand in the way of the production.
The theater is as intriguing as the play being presented. There
are mysterious accidents. There is even a suggestion that what is
happening is in the realm of the supernatural. Understandably the
local Turkish community is protesting a play about Turkish
barbarity. But even the Armenian community is protesting the
play's production because they are afraid it would distort history.
Even the play is unsatisfying. In it, an attractive Armenian woman
is given the choice of escaping the killings with the protection of
an amorous Turk or dying with her people. One could argue that the
real horror of the history is with the people who are given no
choice at all.
1915 is a film written and directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec
Mouhibian. It is a short 82 minutes long. Yes, it is about the
Armenian genocide, among other things. It also has discussions
about the nature of acting that I would have expected more from
BIRDMAN. There are philosophical nuggets like, "The wound has to
sting before it can heal." What we learn of the genocide is in
five or six sound bytes. It fails in precisely the same way that
ARARAT fails. Obviously Simon's play cannot be a big spectacular
production within his budget, but he could tell more directly the
history in a small personal story like THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK.
This is not a bad film by any means. It is intriguing, but it
could have been more effective. It leaves the viewer with
bewilderment where it could have left him with conviction.
Admittedly, it is not quite fair complaining about what 1915 *was
not* instead of what it *was*, but there is a real need to document
the Armenian experience before too much time passes and too much is
forgotten. I want to know more about the history of the Armenian
Massacre but found myself being told of the problems producing a
play in current-day Los Angeles. The film suggests that that this
is history that is being forgotten while doing almost nothing to
preserve the memories. I rate 1915 a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10.
Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3781762/combined>
What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771415682/>
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2015 Mark R. Leeper
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