Ararat is a complicated and complex film that deals with several themes, but is particularly focused on the atrocities inflicted on the Armenian people in Turkey between 1915 and 1918. To this day, the Turkish government denies that a deliberate, systematic destruction of the Armenian people occurred, despite evidence to the contrary. Relatives of Egoyan's grandparents perished, so this story is clearly one that is close to him.
There are at least three main plot strands that eventually weave together to create the tapestry that is this challenging film. In one, director Edward Saroyan (Charles Aznevour) and his screenwriter Rouben (Eric Bogosian) are crafting a film about events that occurred during the Siege of Van in 1915. In their research, they discover that the painter Arshile Gorky (ne Vostanik Manoog Adoyan) was a boy who may or may not have taken part in the events, so they hire as a consultant an art historian Ani (Arsinee Khanjian) who is an expert on Gorky and his work.
Ani has a checkered history: her first husband died while attempting to assassinate a Turkish government official and her second husband committed suicide. Her son Raffi (David Alpay) from her first marriage and her stepdaughter Celia (Marie-Josee Croze) are engaging in a sexual relationship, despite Celia's fervent belief that Ani drove her father to his death.
The final thread involves a Canadian custom official (Christopher Plummer) about to retire who has difficulties relating to his own child (Brent Carver), a formerly married man now living with another man (Elias Koteas).
The characters cross in odd ways, which I realize some may feel are convoluted, but which I accepted. Plummer's custom official is first seen stopping Aznavour's director from entering the country because the filmmaker is carrying a pomegranate. Later, on his last day of work, he questions Raffi about the contents of canisters of film -- which may or may not contain drugs.
The movie shifts between these various worlds raising pertinent issues about the discrepancies between how historical events unfold and how people can put specific spins on them. Plot points unfold in counterpoint: Celia's desire to pin the blame for her father's death on Ani runs parallel to the Turks not accepting the blame for the genocide of the Armenians. In the film-within-the-film (also titled Ararat) the issue of Gorky's participation in the events at Van is open to interpretation. All that is really known is that he lived in that town during the time and that he was 10 years of age. Did he participate in the events as the filmmakers suggest? Or are they merely taking artistic license? Can these questions be answered? Not definitively.
Although there are some flaws in the film -- and there are certainly a few sequences that feel a bit didactic, overall, I was impressed with the movie. It was challenging, informative and for the most part extremely well acted. Everyone from Plummer to Alpay to Elias Koteas as an actor portraying one of the Turkish generals who perhaps identifies a bit too closely with the character he is portraying to Croze to Khanjian all do fine work. I was moved by the film and its themes and still feel it ranks as one of the director's best movies.
Rating: A-
To some extent, Egoyan continued to explore some of these themes in Adoration, but with a little less success. Inspired by the true story of a terrorist who planted a bomb in the luggage of his unwitting, pregnant girlfriend, Egoyan spins the tale of Simon (Devon Bostick) who identifies too closely with the true story which his French teacher (Arsinee Khanjian) reads to her class. Simon, influenced by his bigoted grandfather (Kenneth Welch) and equally prejudiced uncle Tom (Scott Speedman), concocts a tale wherein his father Sami (Noam Jenkins) becomes that terrorist and his mother Rachel (Rachel Blanchard) becomes the woman. Of course, that means that Simon was the unborn child. Years later, after arguing with Rachel's family, Sami deliberately crashes the car in which he and his wife are riding, leaving Simon an orphan to be raised by his uncle.
Some of his classmates come to believe the story and encouraged by Simon, word spreads, including in Internet chat rooms where people who were on the plane make their feelings known. Simon, abetted by his teacher -- who has an agenda of her own -- challenges his uncle's beliefs.
Once again, Egoyan explores how cultural identies are shaped and how lies and falsehoods can be presented in a manner in which they are taken for truth. Where Ararat explored the issue of communication within a familial structure by examining several groups, in Adoration, the filmmaker has trained his eye on a single unit. He shows how prejudices and misinformation can get passed down from one generation to the next like heirlooms.
I was struck in reading various reviews by other critics at how many failed to see the connections between these movies. Most did not like Ararat and called it confusing and overly-ambitious whereas they lauded Adoration. I had an opposite reaction. I felt Adoration was too small, too confined and a bit confusing. The big reveal about Khanjian's character felt false to me and undercut the film's power. Still, even second-rate Egoyan is better than a lot of other films.
Rating: B-
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