Barnes & Noble

A breathtaking rumination on history, art, and compulsion, Atom Egoyan's Ararat is at once the Armenian-Canadian director's most urgent and personal work. A meld of haunted feelings, the film is also a rare look at the repercussions of the Armenian genocide of 1915, during which one million people were exterminated by the Turkish government. As in his masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter, Egoyan braids several disparate stories, eschewing sentimentality. The movie begins with Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky in a loft, painting his landmark Mother and Son, and then cuts to the present day, where mother and son Ani (Arsinee Khanjian) and Raffi (David Alpay) are sifting through their various tensions. Raffi is returning from Turkey with some film to be used on a production about the 1915 genocide, and he is detained by customs inspector David (Christopher Plummer). In the meantime, director Edward Saroyan (Armenian-French vocal legend Charles Aznavour) is trying to fold a Gorky into his movie at the behest of the screenwriter (Eric Bogosian). Ani, an art historian, comes aboard as a consultant but bristles at the prospect of signing off on the film-in-the-making's dramatic license -- including the displacement of Armenia's legendary Mount Ararat itself. As the pieces begin to fit together, Ararat's historical perspective and significance take shape, thanks to the cast's all-around graceful performances. Like Polanski's The Pianist, one comes away from Ararat with the feeling that the story gestated in its creator for a long time, and the rewards come in the form of the obvious commitment and emotion that Egoyan brings to the table. Eddy Crouse

All Movie Guide

Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan explores his Armenian heritage, and how the country's tragic history has touched several generations of the nation's expatriates, in this ambitious drama. Edward Saroyan (Charles Aznavour), a veteran filmmaker of Armenian descent, is in Toronto shooting a film about the Siege of Van, in which invading Ottoman armies forced the evacuation of Armenian communities in 1915, leading to the genocide of over a million Armenian people at the hands of Turkish troops. Twenty-one-year-old Raffi (David Alpay) has been sent to Turkey to shoot background footage for the film; Raffi's mother Ani (Arsinee Khanjian), an author and historian, is also involved in the project as a consultant. Lately Raffi and Ani have been at odds; Raffi has been dating Celia (Marie-Josee Croze), Ani's stepdaughter, who is convinced that Ani is somehow responsible for the death of her father. Ani's first husband, who was Raffi's father, is also dead, after taking part in an assassination attempt on a Turkish political leader. As Raffi attempts to re-enter Canada with cans of exposed film, he's detained by David (Christopher Plummer), a suspicious customs official who has his own tenuous link to Saroyan's film -- David is struggling to come to terms with the gay lifestyle of his son Philip (Brent Carver), whose lover Ali (Elias Koteas) is playing the villain in the picture. Ararat also features Eric Bogosian and Bruce Greenwood. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 786936221008
• Source: MIRAMAX
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Alternate Wide Screen (1.78:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:55:00
• Sales Rank: 21,199

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