The Promise: A review

[TeenHelp]

The Promise: A review
By Jenna (~Abibliophobe~)

The Promise is a movie that is set during the Armenian Genocide. It deals with all the atrocities that took place during the Armenian Genocide but it also centers around the love triangle of the three main characters. Mikael is an Armenian who has dreamed of becoming a doctor but he has never been able to afford it. He ends up agreeing to marry a woman and the dowry that he gets ends up allowing him to pay for medical school. The medical school is far away from his hometown and while he is there he meets Chris who works for the associated press and Ana who is very close to Chris. As Mikael’s time at medical school goes on he develops feelings for Ana. However, in the midst of all of this, the Turkish Empire starts targeting the Armenian people.

I think that there are parts of the movie that might be triggering for grief but if you can get past that I think it is a movie worth watching.

The story was absolutely devastating and while I don’t particularly like movies about romance or love triangles I really enjoyed this one. I thought the content that focused on the Armenian Genocide was important. It is something that happened in 1915 but still does not get a lot of recognition from the world. I also think that this is one of the few movies that centers around the Armenian Genocide.

I think the movie showed how absolutely devastating the Armenian Genocide was. Even though I have read a number of articles about the Armenian Genocide I didn’t realize just how brutal it was.

The one thing I struggled with in regards to the movie was that it didn’t seem to show, all that well, what led to the Armenian Genocide. It basically showed how the Turkish government partnered with the Germans in World War I and then they started targeting the Armenians. However, from doing research it seems like there were tensions between the Armenians and the Turkish people before the Armenian Genocide took place. I think it would have been great if the producers of the movie had shown this conflict in some way.

I thought the movie was absolutely stunning and it was heartbreaking but I expected that given what it was about.