The Cut (2014)

the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Tahir Rahim ('A Prophet') stars as Nazarat an Armenian artisan in the town of Mardin. World War I is raging and the Ottoman Turks have thrown in their lot with the forces of Germany and her allies. In Turkey a decision is made to do something about the Christian Armenians. Nazarat is rounded up and forced to work as slave labour – leaving his wife and twin daughters alone to their fate.What befalls him is horrific and what befell the Armenians was a war crime and a crime against humanity. In the aftermath of his travails Nazarat hears that his daughters have survived the blood bath, he then sets out to find them and the majority of the film is taken up with his search.Now this is a fairly good effort, it is a bit shameless at tugging on the heart strings though. It was a wide European co-production and that is reflected in the languages being used. The main language though is English, which is used by most of the players here. That may be why it has faced criticism of some of the acting. That criticism is that some of it was a bit hammy or wooden. It is harder to act in a non native tongue so a lot of the nuances are lost. Rahim is as ever excellent and believable and as a central character to the film he manages to hold it all together very well. There are some plot holes and I could not find if this was based on an actual real story. However, it is fairly engaging and with a run time of around two hours managed to keep me gripped for the most part hence my rating.

I should say Faith Akin is currently one of the most important directors from Germany of Turkish descent. He brought a fresh spirit to German and Turkish film scene. He shows also great courage with the theme Armenian Genocide. He explains a personal story, but also takes a step to the Armenians from Turkish side, and try to say "we understand your suffering." Regrettably that is enough to be excommunicated from Turkish community, because it is still a taboo to talk about Armenian problem in such a way. It is a pity that he missed such a great chance to create a good film with his humanistic intentions. Most of the scenes feel like staged, acting is mostly average. The main problem with the movie is the atmosphere. When I see a good movie, I forget that it is a movie and create an emotional connection with the characters. That is the most important thing for me as I evaluate a film. And it lacked completely for me. It could be the worst cinematographic work of Faith Akin till now. Still deserves above average from me.

IN Turkey today it is a serious crime to use the word "Genocide" in reference to the systematic expulsion of Armenians from Turkish Soil in the period from 1915 to 1923. During this time 1.5 million Armenians (highly conservative estimate!) were either murdered outright or perished on forced death marches through the Syrian desert. A few Turkish intellectuals have spoken out against the official Turkish policy of Genocide Denial but, needless to say, there has never been a Turkish film touching this theme --- Until now! THE CUT, Directed by German-Turkish filmmaker Faith Akin pulls no punches in depicting Turkish Brutality in excruciating detail and the scattering of the survivors to the far ends of the earth -- in this case Cuba, Minneapolis, and finally the frozen wastes of North Dakota in winter. Faith AKIN (42) establishedß his Credentials with the Film "Against the Wall" depicting friction between Turks and Kurds in Hamburg which won the Golden Bear Top Prize at Berlin in 2004. Since then he has continued to address controversial issues in his films with characteristic boldness. THE CUT opens in the home of the peaceful Armenian Manoogian family but soon Turkish soldiers burst in, Gestapo style, and cart all the men off for "investigation" as the rest of the family cowers in terror. Next we see the men outside doing forced labor chopping rocks but soon they are put up against a rock wall to be executed. The Turkish commander orders his men to slash their throats rather than waste precious bullets on the worthless Armenian prisoners. All are then brutally slashed to death but one young man, Nazareth Manoogian, whose neck wounds were not fatal manages to survive. (Tarah Rahim, French actor of Algerian descent!) -- however the injury has left him unable to speak -- mute. He then proceeds to turn in a fantastic performance with hardly any dialog -- only a few words of strangled Armenian late in the film. Most of the dialog if the film is however spoken in Turkish western Armenian by native Armenian actors with some Spanish in the Cuban sequence. Found half dead with partially slashed throat and rescued by a kindly Turkish man Nazaret escapes to a neighboring country and some years later learns that his twin daughters have survived and are alive, last heard from in Cuba. He works his way laboriously over to Cuba but his daughters are no longer there ~ last destination allegedly Minneapolis on the American mainland. Again the trail is cold as they have somehow moved on to rural North Dakota. Himself half frozen as he drags himself across the snowy wastes he finally comes, almost miraculously, upon the surviving daughter now full grown. Tearful reunion in a truly remote corner of the Armenian Diaspora. This grueling international road movie is based on a fiction novel but points a non-compromising finger at the grim historical reality of Turkish ethnic cleansers and genocide perpetrators, while also addressing the indomitable Armenian will to survive no matter how widely dispersed. Overall, a gripping drama as well as a compact lesson in Armenian Genocide and Diaspora studies. Aside from that a very interesting film with a towering performance by non-Armenian actor Tahar Rahim in the central nearly silent role of an Armenian holocaust survivor. Most exceptional that it is made by a Turkish director. Bravo Faith Akin! NOTE: The title refers to one of the words routinely used by Diaspora Armenians in reference to the Turkish Genocide.

Faith Akin's epic tale of hope and survival, set in the time of the Armenian Genocide amidst the Great War and the resulting diaspora all over the world. I watched 'The Cut' lately during the London Film Festival, and found it worth the time in general and definitely had its good moments. It did not go for over-sentimentality and didacticism but rather showed an impressive journey of search and survival. For me, the wide shots in the desert and in the streets of Cuba were special, and there was very good work with costumes and set decoration. Some might argue that Armenians and Turks speaking English felt unnatural but it was totally justified for me. However, the film fell short in several aspects, and during viewing I constantly had the feeling that much more could have been done with the powerful story that could have greatly enriched and added more depth to the end-product. The poor screenplay dialogue was the most obvious shortcoming in the film, and while its over-simplicity can be regarded by some as appealing minimalism, it remained a huge disappointment. One scene epitomised the problem here, when the protagonist discovered that his daughters were still alive, his friend shouted exuberantly with no more than "This is good .. this is good ". It is possible here that using the English language presented a problem. The contrived ending was, to a lesser extent, irritating as well but the slow camera work saved it. I found a particular scene very interesting, when the Turks were evacuating the Syrian city and a Turkish boy got injured by a thrown stone, and the protagonist's reaction, and I wish there were more of these side stories, like watching Chaplin's 'The Kid'.In addition to screenplay, several techniques could have added more to the story; exposition by flashbacks at different parts of the journey (some dreams were deployed but to a limited effect), voice- overs contemplating the condition of humanity at the time of war. A good soundtrack could have made a big difference as well, and in such a film I think dispensing of such a poor soundtrack altogether could have yielded a better result and added a minimalistic touch, although of course this would have been difficult with the protagonist speech handicap and the lack of a narrator. The challenging task for the main actor, to rely entirely on facial expressions and body gestures because of handicap early in the narrative, was met by a solid performance, but could be easily overlooked by general audience because of the shortcomings of the other narration elements.An impressive story of survival, and a very important yet overlooked subject in recent history compared with others of even less scale, but less impressive film. The beautiful shots and powerful story were not enough to elevate it to the epic legendary status, but it is still worth watching.