The Promise

[stuartboy]

Quite slow and perhaps overly long. Good story. Slightly spoiled by bland actors. Not helped by the black bushy beard syndrome making so many of the characters look alike. Hard to tell some apart from scene to scene. Including the women!

6/10

[silicon]

Wasnt sure I would like this film at the beginning but by the end I enjoyed it. Didn't know the true story behind it and it kind of grew on me and kept me interested. A surprising 7 out of 10 !

[chelle1973]

This was very brutal, quite harrowing and very sad. How can a human being treat another human being like that? I have no words! 8/10

I wasn't too bothered about the love story however, I felt Chris being there was an important part in this as the journalist. I've watched a couple of documentaries recently about frontline journalists...Jim: The James Foley story and also The Journey is the Destination about photographer Dan Eldon, worth a watch!

[ladams888]

Saw this at Wandsworth Cineworld. A harrowing film about the Armenian genocide (something that, even though it happened over 100 years ago, the Turkish authorities still don’t admit to). We follow the fate of Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), an Armenian pharmacist who wishes to become a doctor and who, using his fiancée’s dowry to p*y for his tuition, moves to Constantinople to pursue his studies. It is 1914 and the First World War is starting to develop in the background. There is a sense of foreboding as we know that everything is going to change forever. Sure enough where Muslims and Armenians had previously lived and worked peacefully together, the Turks suddenly found that they had scapegoats in the ethnic Armenian, Assyrian and Greek population (all Christians). This film concentrates on just the Armenians who were persecuted almost to the point of extinction, as Turkey tries to completely wipe them out. It is a very similar situation to the Jews in between-war Germany, but much less publicised. A total of one and a half million Armenians were slaughtered on the pretext of treason – but really just because they were Armenians – and Christians to boot. In the film, we witness how all of Mikael’s friends and family (bar one cousin) are killed. Christian Bale (the slightly overweight version of himself) was excellent as the AP reporter, Chris Myers, who through dogged perseverance managed to get a French ship to rescue several thousand Armenians who were fleeing under intense gunfire. Unfortunately, I think the film concentrated a little too much on Mikael and his love life, but even so, as so little is known in this country about the Armenian genocide, I think it is a film that everyone should see. 7/10

[filmfanatic1704]

A fantastic film which is slowly recovering on imdb following it's numerous negative reviews by people who had not even watched it! It was clear that a lot of time, effort and emotion was put into the making of this film. The film powerfully depicts the cruelty and brutality of mankind, as well as the fear and terror that seeps into people's skins during times of war. The film is truly moving and several scenes left me, and others with me in the cinema, in tears. It certainly made me think about how we, as humans, should behave and treat each other. This (timeless) theme remains a powerful message today. I would definitely recommend seeing this movie... but bring tissues.

[petrabastos]

Great movie with a great historical part. Would be better without the love part or less love drama. Learnt a lot abouy the armenian genocide. It worth your time!

[fillumboy2]

Quite an old-fashioned film. Does not entirely succeed at the balancing act of romance and genocide, but it is beautifully shot and well-played.

Not without flaws, but worth seeing as an antidote to a lot of the by-numbers horrors and unfunny comedies that clog up the screens these days.

[The Sparrow]

Will humans ever learn!

Genocide in WWI
Genocide in WWII

and unspeakable acts around the world since and currently.

I'm ashamed to say that I knew nothing of the Armenian Genocide and didn't know that this film was based on true events.

Oscar Isaac is a remarkable actor and I love how he becomes each character he plays no matter the film.
Christian Bale was also very good in this with very good performances from all involved.

This film will leave a lasting impression on me and yet again,reading the info at the end brought me to tears.

Until now I had no idea that people were marking this down on IMDb so to counter it, I have marked it slightly higher.

If you want to see a film that doesn't involve a baby tree and a talking raccoon, then this is the film to watch.

[elski]

Not just marking it down but actively trolling against it. Take a look at the comments on the empire review post on fb

[Eca03ek]

I was really surprised how good this film was. I didn't know very much about these events in Turkey though saw how the horrors of WW11 were largely present in 1914 in Turkey. I would highly recommend seeing this film, particularly as it's also based on true events. The acting was superb throughout as was the cinematography.
Marks 9/10