Original subtitles

[ somber theme playing]

You can't bring this in.

Please.No fruit or vegetable.

That includes pomegranates.

It's on your form.

I like to eat the seeds of this fruit.

One each day, for luck.

I'm sorry. That's not allowed.

WOMAN [ on PA ]: For security reasons,

please do not leave your bags unattended.

[ woman repeats message in French ]

What are you doing?

This way, I don't need to bring it in.

I eat it here at the gate of your country.

Look.

So I bring luck in my stomach.

Will you try?

[ crowd chattering in Armenian ]

[ in Armenian ]: Raffi, the real point of this poem is that

the girlfriend is crazy.

[ all laugh ]

RAFFI: "No," the girlfriend said angrily.

"I want your mother's heart!"

So the boy went and killed his mother.

You know what they say,

there's always a woman at the heart of it.

[ all laugh ]

RAFFI: As he ran through the streets

with her heart in his hands, he tripped and fell.

His mother's heart cried out,

"My poor boy!

Did you hurt yourself?"

[ laughs ]

[ crowd chattering ]

CELIA [in English ]: You know what?

I completely forgot she had a party.

I told you she-- The party's not the point.

The fact is, you make these physical appearances

without letting anybody know.

I mean, it makes perfect sense to me.

CELIA: Why would I need to tell anyone?

RAFFI: Look, I'm not saying you need permission.

[ in French ]: Permission for what?

[ in English ]: Celia, just try and understand her point of view.

[ Celia speaks in French ]

[ playing soft music ]

[ in English ]: Why can't I read her book?

Just wait till it comes out.

But you've read it.

Give me your copy.No.

Why not?

I'm part of the family.Look, I promised her that I...

What?

I wouldn't give you my copy.

Please.Celia, come on.

I'm making it hard for you to be the perfect son.

I'm sorry.

Just, I don't get why it has to be this way.

Yes, you do.

I was happier when you got along.

It wasn't as much fun.

Says who?

The ghost of the father.

My father, not yours.

Yours died like a hero.

Mine died in a stupid accident, according to her.

You look after your ghost, Raffi,

and I'll look after mine.

Did you give her my book?

This is too weird for me.

What is weird, Raffi?

Smoking pot,

or sleeping with your stepsister?

Look, I'm old enough to know--

What are you telling me, Raffi?

That this is all normal?

That she should continue to harass me?

Tell people that I'm responsible for her father's death?

No one asked her to come here.

She could have stayed in Montreal.

She needed us.

What she needs is to destroy me

the same way she thinks I destroyed him.

Mom--

She will never understand why I stopped loving her father.

Or for seeing someone else?

I'm not accountable to her.

I am.

Why?

Because I love her.

[ in Armenian ]: That's a new twist to the story.

[ in Armenian ]: Why do you need to call it a story?

Don't you have anything better to do at your age

than fall in love?

My age?

You were married at my age!

[ train rumbles in distance ]

[ in English ]: Thank you.

Tony, like to say grace?

TONY: For what we're about to receive,

may the Lord make us truly grateful. Amen.

DAVID: Amen.

TONY: Dad?

Yes?

Why didn't you say "amen?"

Well, I say it inside.

TONY: Inside where?

Inside my head.

TONY: Can God hear it inside your head?

What do you think, Dad?

God hears all your thoughts.

But you don't believe in God.

Grandpa, that's not really what happened.

See you.TONY: Bye, Grandpa.

[ somber theme playing]

[ bicycle bells ringing ]

Here's the situation, Dad.

Whenever Tony comes over alone, he's fine.

We play, he laughs, he's full of joy.

Whenever you're around, he becomes quiet and withdrawn,

and we can't stand it.That isn't true, Philip.

The more oppression you--Oppression?

He loves when I'm there.

The more you bring this heavy cloud into our apartment,

the more he believes that the way we live is wrong.

Now, I have never told him that.

You don't need to.

He can feel your disgust.

Philip...

And where did he get that Ali doesn't believe in God?

He asked me why your friend doesn't say grace with us.

My friend--I told him

he had his own God, and that's true.

Philip, I'm--

I'm trying really hard to accept all this.

I really am.

Dad.

You're retiring soon.

You're gonna have a lot of time on your hands.

Either you make an effort to change your attitude,

or you're not welcome at our place anymore.

[ airplanes whooshing ]

Where are you coming from?

Turkey.

Can you open this?

What are these?

It's film. It's motion-picture film.

It's for a movie.

I have--

I have some stuff from...

This sort of thing is usually done through a bonder.

Well, they wanted me to handle it.

Who's "they"?

It's very valuable footage.

Can you open it?

Well, no.

It's exposed film. It'll destroy it.

Oh?

It's for a movie that's being shot here in Canada.

I had to go to Turkey to get some process shots.

Process shots?

Shots that'll be used for digital effects.

You know, plates, that sort of thing.

I don't understand.

We needed these scenes of hundreds of people

passing through these places,

and it's too expensive to take actors and extras

to the middle of nowhere,

so we shoot empty shots of location.

It's cheaper to add people in later on.

[ whispers indistinctly ]

I'll be back.

[ somber theme playing]

[ Armenian folk music playing ]

[ somber theme playing]

[ sheep baaing ]

[ shepherds shouting and whistling ]

[ villagers chattering in Armenian ]

[ bell tolling ]

ANI: Arshile Gorky remains one of

the most influential figures in modern art.

His most famous painting, The Artist and His Mother,

is based on a photograph that was taken in 1912.

The only image that exists

of the artist's early life in his native land.

Gorky is seen holding a bunch of small flowers

as a fragrant gift to his absent father,

the intended recipient of this remarkable photograph.

CELIA: I'm confused.

Had Gorky changed his name by this point?

ANI: No, he changed it in his twenties

after his arrival to the United States.

Celia. Sit down.

ANI: Gorky looks prematurely solemn

with almond eyes and an oval face,

his hair combed neatly to the side.

Shushan looks bravely at the camera,

challenging her absent husband with a--

CELIA: Challenging? Why would you say that?

Isn't it obvious he knew the Armenians

were about to be massacred?

He went to America to prepare a life for his family.

They wanted to send him a photograph

to let him know they were still alive.

There's nothing challenging--

Gorky never understood why his father did not return.

Celia, just sit down. Come on.

Aren't you confusing Gorky's father with your dead husband?

I mean, your first dead husband?

The one who was shot by the police?

The terrorist?

EDWARD: Sit down. Sit down.

We're here to listen to this lecture.

[ scattered applause ]Let's go.

[ tense theme playing]

The Artist and His Mother

is not simply a painted version of a photograph.

The differences underline the expressive elements

that make this piece such a powerful work of art.

Gorky's homage to his mother was bound

to take on a sacred quality.

His experience as a survivor of the Armenian genocide

is at the root of its spiritual power.

With this painting,

Gorky had saved his mother from oblivion,

snatching her out of a pile of corpses

to place her on a pedestal of life.

[ soft theme playing]

[ children chattering in Armenian]

GORKY'S MOTHER [ in Armenian ]: Let me look at you, son.

You're missing a button.

It must have fallen off.

Hold your hand in front of it.

Like this?Yes.

[ Gorky singing softly in Armenian ]

I was just so shocked to see you here.

I've seen all your films, and I really--

Please, please.

We're the ones who are overwhelmed by this.

I've been writing this screenplay for five years,

done as much research as possible,

and you come up with this.

With what?

Well, that Gorky was a child during the rebellion in Van,

that he was there.

My mother was a genocide survivor.

All my life, I promised to make a film

to tell her story, how she suffered.

And now we are making this film.

I'm not understanding something.

Is Gorky in your film?

Not yet.

ROUBEN: As you were speaking, we got very excited

about the idea of working him in as another character.

Well, not an entirely new character,

but a character we could build on.

See, this amazing artist as a young kid.

It'd be great to have you as a consultant.

EDWARD: You have offered us a gift

from the ashes of all that has been destroyed.

We can open this gift together.

[ rock music playing over speakers ]

[ moaning and panting ]

[ laughs ]

What's going on?

Why did you bring up my dad?

Well, he didn't run away.

Okay, my mom just had to distance herself from him.

Oh? To save the family?

He wasn't a terrorist.I didn't say he was.

You said he was a terrorist.Did I?

Well, I suppose you could see it that way.

I mean, he was about to assassinate a diplomat.

He was a freedom fighter.

Celia, there's a difference.

Sure. It was a really cool way to go.

A lot better than my dad, jumping off a cliff.

Jumping?

He committed suicide.

Well, that's new.

I thought the story was my mom pushed him off the cliff.

A story?

You think I'm making up a story?

No, that's not what I meant.

[ mysterious theme playing]

CELIA: Raffi, I'm saying that what happened to my father matters.

I know that no one else cares, but it matters to me.

RAFFI: Well, then how do I make it matter?

What happened to my father?

CELIA: You just do.

RAFFI: How?

CELIA: You go there.

And you stick it in here.

And you listen to it beat.

Beat all night, all day.

That way, you never forget.

[ somber theme playing]

Mount Ararat.

When I was a boy,

my mother used to tell me this was ours. Heh.

Even though it was so far away.

And I used to dream of a way to approach it,

to make it belong to who I was,

to who I became.

Marty,

this book is the key to your character.

It's the actual journal of Clarence Ussher,

published in Boston and New York in 1917.

Every scene in this film is based on this document.

Think of it. I mean, it's the true story

of a man who sees an entire community wiped out

and is sickened by it.

So you can't play it--I've read this book.

As well as every available piece of archival material

that so much as hints at the region,

or these people, or the Armenian genocide.

And I'm currently rereading the Bible with Ussher in mind,

so beyond that, it's pretty much

up to my imagination.

And now I'm here to make a film with Edward Saroyan.

Okay?

This painting was very, very popular

even a hundred years ago when it was painted,

and it's very popular now.

People love this painting, and I think it's because--

Because it's such a warm, safe picture of two little kids.

We get the feeling that these two kids in front of the fire

warming themselves after their bath...

[ gasps ]

How'd it go?

I think it went great.Did you get it?

Do they like you?ALI: I think so.

[ cell phone ringing ]

Hello? Yeah--

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Good news?

He just got a big part in a movie.

Let me call you right back,

because I'm in a gallery and I can't really talk.

Do you play a good guy or a bad guy?

I play a very, very, very bad man.

[ roaring loudly ][ kids scream ]

[ soldiers chattering in Turkish ]

MAN [ in Armenian ]: Just look at them.

Nice and comfortable, sipping their coffee.

No idea what's about to hit them.

[ soldiers chattering in Turkish ]

MAN 2: [ in Armenian ]: Let me take a shot.

You couldn't shoot a cow.

[ whispers indistinctly ]

There's another 20, 25

creeping up on us.

And in the front,

one chicken.

Aim!

[ tense theme playing]

MAN 1: Fire!

[ grunting ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ dramatic theme playing]

[ horses whinnying ]

[ screams ]

[ shouting in Armenian ]

[ shouting in Armenian ]

[ in English ]: Leave the weapons outside the compound.

Leave the weapons outside the compound.

Get him inside. Get his clothes off

and get him ready for surgery.

To make sure that we get help, I'm sending each of you out

to deliver a copy of this letter.

[ woman translating into Armenian ]

The letter says to Americans or any foreign consul

that there are internal troubles in Van.

[ translating into Armenian ]

So inform the American government

that American lives are in danger.

[ woman translating into Armenian ]

EDWARD: And cut.

That's a cut.

MAN: Okay, everybody, hold your positions.

Everything you see here

is based on what my mother told me.

What is it?

You wouldn't be able to see Mount Ararat from Van.

Well, yes, but I thought it would be important.

But it's not true.

Heh. It's true in spirit.

ROUBEN: See what you can do, okay?

And let me know.

I got to go. Yeah, I got to get off.

Okay, I'll talk to you later. Okay, bye.

Sorry. I had a call.

Rouben, Ani's confused about the mountain Ararat.

She has noticed quite correctly

that it would not be seen from Van.

Well, we thought we could stretch things a bit.

I mean, it's such an identifiable symbol

and given the moment in history that we're trying to show--

ANI: So it's something you could justify?

Sure. Poetic license.

[ chuckles ]

Where do you get those?

Wherever you can.

ANI: So, that's my job?

To let you feel better about distorting things?

EDWARD: The young boy in our film

gets sent by Ussher to deliver a letter.

He gets caught by the Turks.

That's the character we make into Gorky.

How would you do that?

Okay, by April, 1915

the Turks have completely surrounded the Armenian quarter.

Within the quarter, inside these fortified walls,

is the American mission run by a Dr. Clarence Ussher.

Okay, outside a few hundred men

armed with ancient guns

are surrounded by well-armed troops

with the latest in European artillery.

[ explosion nearby ]

ROUBEN: Miraculously, through their ingenuity,

or their teamwork,

they're able to hold the Armenian position,

but they're completely isolated.

They are cut off from the outside world.

Ussher has to somehow get word to the outside world

about what's about to happen.

And so he hopes that one of these boys,

Gorky, will get through.

[ dramatic theme playing]

So do it.

That's it?

That's all you have to say?

Edward Saroyan is

one of the greatest directors in the world.

Twenty years ago. Yes.

Whatever.

Raffi, you know how long

I've been working on this.

It can help Gorky's story get told.

Go for it.

What?

Why do you still sleep here?

[ scoffs ]

It's my home.

Doesn't she want you there?

It's uncomfortable.

It's too humid.

Can we talk about what happened the other night?

Sure.

That's why she wanted to read my book?

So she could humiliate me?

So fight back.

Don't be ridiculous.

She knows next to nothing about art.

And I'm certainly not going to respond to her accusations.

You seem to be doing a pretty good job.

What are you talking about?

Just the way you use history like a weapon.

I mean, talking about Gorky's mother

as a way of attacking Celia's issues.

Celia's issues?

Are you out of your mind?

It was a prepared lecture.

Raffi, she wants to believe that I murdered her father,

that I pushed him off a cliff.

Would I do that?

Would you like to believe that your mother is a killer?

Is that remotely possible to you?

Her new theory is that you made him jump.

How?

She thinks the whole last chapter

of the book is a way of admitting guilt.

Oh, I see.

The idea being since Gorky committed suicide

her father must have as well.

It's easy to make fun of her.

Not as easy as you think.

Raffi, she wants her father's death

to be more meaningful than it was.

It gives her a cause.

We all know how dangerous those can be.

She has no right to compare the two men.

Your father died for something he believed in.

I just wish I had some idea what that was.

[ airplanes whooshing ]

[ somber theme playing]

This film was shot in Toronto almost a year ago.

Yeah, that's right.

And now you're coming back from Turkey

with these cans of footage?

Uh...

This tells me you worked on this film

as a production assistant and driver.

This is a letter of recommendation

for future employment.

It doesn't explain why

you're returning from Turkey months later.

There was some stuff they wanted to add in Turkey.

They added a character.

"They"?

The director and the writer

and my mom.

Your mom?

Yeah, she's an art history professor.

She was a consultant on the film.

She got me the job.

So, who's this new character?

Arshile Gorky, the painter.

Turkish painter.Armenian.

Why did you go to Turkey to shoot an Armenian painter?

That's where he's from. He was born there.

Armenia was historically part of eastern Turkey.

Anatolia.

And they sent you alone, without a crew?

Yeah, they wouldn't have gotten permission to send a crew there.

Why not?

It's not that easy to shoot a story

about the Armenian genocide in Turkey.

It's politically sensitive.

In what way?

Because the Turkish authorities don't want to admit it happened.

Oh, why not?

Well, you'd have to ask them.

So, uh, what's the story about?

That's very good. Your father's very good.

Effendi.

BEY: Yes?

Can we discuss a payment?

Do you know what I think of as I look at these faces?

PHOTOGRAPHER: No, effendi.

BEY: I think of what's in their mind

as they stare at your camera.

Their desperate need to be remembered.

For what, we may ask?

A payment is a gesture of thanks, no?

Yes, effendi.

So, let us examine what it is

that you have to be thankful for.

A man of my position

has chosen you to take his portrait.

And this has brought you prestige, honor.

How will you give thanks?

You're welcome.

Would you like to thank me as well?

Sevan.

[ sighs ]

We shall find another time, another means.

Ah.

Ah.

There are different ways

to express gratitude.

...but deliver us from evil.

[ translating into Armenian ]

For thine is the kingdom

and the power and the glory.

[ both speaking foreign language ]

BOTH: Amen.

ALL: Amen.

[ crowd chattering ]

[ in Armenian ]: We have to go.

[ in Armenian ]: God bless you.

Do you remember when we took this photo

to send to your father?

Yes.

If the Turks capture you,

you will never give up your faith.

You will never forget your mother tongue.

If you survive,

it will be to tell this story.

Of what has happened here. Of what will happen--

We will win, Mother.

Take this picture with you.

You will not forget me.

We will win.

[ both sobbing ]

[ men chattering in Armenian ]

[ explosions in distance ]

[ gunshots in distance ]

[ suspenseful theme playing]

[ explosions in distance ]

[ suspenseful theme playing]

[ whinnies ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ both yell ]

BEY [ in English ]: Now, I want you to remember

that this has to be nailed

into the ball of the heel.

Not the sole, because there is

no bone in the sole. It'll fall off.

[ boy screaming ]

[ explosions in distance ]

[ screaming continues ]

An appeal for Christian help.

Does your missionary feel so persecuted?

We've invested you Greeks and Armenians

with power and freedom.

You should be thankful!

[ boy continues screaming ]

This your mother?

She's given you this photograph

so that you may remember her.

Look at it now.

This is a face of a woman

who has raised you to feel superior to us.

She's taught you that Turks are vengeful and ignorant.

That we're bloodthirsty.

Now I am going to teach you something.

What is about to happen to your people

is your own fault.

For as much as you talk about your prophet Jesus Christ

in the depths of your souls, you believe in nothing

but commerce and money.

My streets are overrun

with your markets and moneylenders.

Your greed has led us to corruption and ruin.

Now you yourselves will be ruined.

Take this back to your American missionary.

Pick it up!

You take that back to your American missionary.

He must sign it. Otherwise, he must accept

50 of my soldiers in the mission compound.

Do you understand?

DAVID: You said that this character

gave something to the boy to take back to the missionary

for him to sign.RAFFI: It was a document

stating that "I shall refuse Turkish protection."

But that's obvious.

He was helping protect the Armenians.

Exactly.

Actually, Ussher and Jevdet Bey

had met a few times before.

He tried to stop him from carrying out his plans.

What plans?

For genocide.

Over a million people were killed.

An ancient civilization living on ancestral lands.

[ woman crying ]

RAFFI: It was systematic and fully planned.

The entire Armenian population

of eastern Turkey was eliminated.

[ woman crying ]

[ ominous theme playing]

BEY: Now, I need permission

to put 50 soldiers with cannon and supplies

in your mission compound.

Why?

Well, to protect you, of course.

We're under the protection of the United States of America.

The United States of America.

They're so far away.

It won't be safe

to send so many Turkish soldiers

into the heart of the Armenian quarter.

It's bound to cause trouble.

What danger are you trying to protect us from?

[ sighs ]

If you have a problem with taking my soldiers,

you must sign this statement

that you refuse the protection of the Turkish government.

RAFFI: If Ussher signed the document

it would be like giving the Turks permission

to slaughter the Americans in the compound

the same way that they were massacring

the Armenians outside.

You've lost me.

It was the same document that he presented to the boy.

If the United States government

ever made an inquiry into the incident,

that statement, the document the Turks

wanted Ussher to sign,

would affirm that the Americans

were offered protection, but that they refused.

And if he'd let them in?

The Turks would use it as a strategic point.

With that many soldiers and artillery

based in the mission, they'd have a foothold

in the Armenian quarter.

A Trojan horse.

Right.

So, what did he do?

Our premises are part of the United States of America.

They're extraterritorial by treaty right,

completely neutral.

And we will preserve this neutrality

to the last.

[ speaking in Armenian ]

[ crowd chattering in Armenian ]

[ somber theme playing]

[ watch ticking ]

[ sighs ]

[ dramatic theme playing]

Levon! Levon! Levon!

[ in Armenian ]: Stop! Levon, stop! What are you doing, brother?

Levon, you'll be killed. Come back, Levon!

[ men shouting in Armenian ]

[ gunfire ]

[ groans ]

They were heroes.

What happened in Van in April, 1915

was an amazing act of self-defense.

We hadn't done anything like that

since we held back the Persians.

And when did you hold back the Persians?

451.

451.

Well, like I said, we, uh...

We go back.

MAN: Could you come back to the office, please, sir?

I don't know why I'm wearing this sword.

I didn't have it in the movie,

so it's kind of ridiculous.

This is so tight I can't--

Does it have to be so tight, this thing?

I wanted to thank you.

Wow. Are you kidding?

MAN: We'll just take it from the top here, all right?

This was a huge break for me.

You're one of my favorite directors.

I want to thank you.

Can I ask you something?

Hm?

Did you cast me just because I'm half Turkish?

No, it's because I thought

you would be perfect for the part.

But being Turkish didn't hurt.

No, it didn't hurt, no.

You never asked me what I thought of the history.

What is there to think?

Well, whether I believed it happened,

a genocide.

Well, I'm not sure it matters.

No. I don't want to take up your time.

The thing is, when I play a part,

it's supposed to come from here.

Right? Not here.

Right? Because I was doing some research

and I think the Turks had a real reason to believe

that the Armenians were a threat to their security.

Their eastern border was threatened by Russia

and they believed the Armenians were going to betray them.

So this was war.

Populations get moved around all the time.

Well, again,

thank you for your work.

MAN: Ali, we're ready for you.

[ chuckles ]

I got your car around back.

I'll drive you home.

MAN: Let's do it.

Mr. Saroyan.

Yes?

Why didn't you answer him?

Because he's having regrets about playing the part.

I can understand.

He will receive anger from his people.

But he thinks Turkey was at war with Armenia.

Doesn't it bother you that he doesn't get the history?

No, not really.

I mean, why didn't you explain to him

that we were citizens, we were Turkish citizens?

We had a right to be protected.

Are you driving him home?

Yeah.

Fine.

Take this.

Buy him a bottle of champagne.

Let him think that he has done something...

special?

"Something special."

I'm sorry, Mr. Saroyan. I don't think I understand.

Young man,

do you know what still causes

so much pain?

It's not the people we lost

or the land.

It's to know that we could be so hated.

Who are these people who could hate us so much?

How can they still deny their hatred?

And so hate us...

hate us even more?

[ somber theme playing]

Hey, that was a good scene.Thanks.

It must be really weird to get into that head space.

Yeah.

I mean, I was raised with all these stories.

You know, evil Turks and everything, so I...

I'm a little hardened to it all.

Yeah.

But what you did today, I mean, it...

You made me feel all that anger again.

Hey, thanks.

So I take it you're Armenian.

Well, yeah. That's what I meant when I said

I was, you know, raised to feel a lot of hatred

to the person you're playing.

Right, right.

You really pulled it off.

Well, it'd be kind of hard to disappoint you.

What do you mean?

Well, you were kind of prepared to hate my character, you said.

Well, sure,

but I'm also kind of suspicious of stuff

that's supposed to make me feel anything, you know?

So when I was watching you today, like, even though

I know you were supposed to make me feel like hating you,

I resisted it, but...

But then, I mean, by the end of the scene, I just...

You felt like killing me.

Yeah.

My dad was killed trying to assassinate a Turkish diplomat.

That was almost 15 years ago.

I could never understand what would make him want to murder,

what he had to imagine that Turkish ambassador represented.

But today, you gave me a sense

of what was going on in his head.

I want to thank you.

Well, you're welcome.

Shit.

What's this?It's from Edward.

He wanted to give it to you in thanks.

Now, was this before or after my conversation with him?

After. I guess he wants to show there are no hard feelings.

Ah.

Okay, thanks.

RAFFI: Were you serious about what you told him?

What?How you don't think it happened?

What, the genocide?Yeah.

Are you gonna shoot me or something?

Look, I never heard about any of this stuff

when I was growing up, you know?

I did some research for the part.

From what I read, there were deportations and...

Lots of people died, Armenians and Turks.

It was World War I.

Yeah, but Turkey wasn't at war with the Armenians.

I mean, just like Germany wasn't at war with the Jews.

They were citizens, they were expecting to be protected.

That scene you just shot was based on an eyewitness account.

Your character, Jevdet Bey,

the only reason they put him in Van

was to carry out the complete elimination

of the Armenian population in Van.

There were telegrams, there were communiqués.

Look, I'm not saying that something didn't happen.

Something?

Look, I was born here.

So were you, right?

Yeah.

This is a new country,

so let's just drop the fucking history

and get on with it.

No one's gonna wreck your home.

No one's gonna destroy your family.

Hmm?

So let's go inside and uncork this thing

and celebrate.

Hm?

Do you know what Adolf Hitler told his military commanders

to convince them that his plan would work?

"Who remembers the extermination of the Armenians?"

And nobody did.

Nobody does.

[ somber theme playing]

WOMAN [ over PA ]: For security reasons,

please do not leave your bags unattended.

[ woman repeats message in French ]

Roll up your sleeves.

Why?Please, roll up your sleeves.

I don't do drugs.

Can you open that bag, please?

The number you gave me has been disconnected.

They must've closed the production office.

Then who's paying your bills?

What bills?The cost of your travel.

I'm paying for it myself.I thought this was for the film.

It is.

Then why wouldn't they be paying for it?

Because they don't know I went.

They didn't want to shoot there, so I went myself.

I found myself a cameraman and we went to shoot this material.

I thought the director might need some extra shots,

stuff that he could cut in later.

And what about the digital effects, the people marching?

Well, that can still be added if that's what they want to do.

Can you play one of these on this?

Yeah.

Well, could you put it on, please?

They're kind of personal.

Then let's go somewhere private.

[ soft theme playing]

RAFFI: I'm here, Mom.

Ani.

In a dream world, the three of us would be here together.

Dad, you and me.

I remember all the stories I used to hear about this place.

The glorious capital of our kingdom.

Ancient history.

Like the story that Dad was a freedom fighter,

fighting for a return to this, I guess.

And then he died.

And now something in me died too.

What am I supposed to feel when I look at these ruins?

Do I believe that they're ravaged by time,

[ over monitor ]: or do I believe that they've been willfully destroyed?

Is this proof of what happened? Am I supposed to feel anger?

Can I ever feel the anger that Dad must have felt when--

When he tried to kill a Turkish diplomat?

How did you know?Well, you gave me your passport.

Files are kept. Heh.

You happen to be the son of a terrorist.

Can you turn that back on, please?

--he tried to kill that man?

Why was he prepared to give us up for that, Mom?

What's the legacy he's supposed to have given me?

Why can't I take any comfort in his death?

When I see these places, I realize how much we've lost.

Not just the land and the lives.

The loss of any way to remember it.

There is nothing here to prove that anything ever happened.

[ dramatic theme playing]

[ horse whinnying ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ woman shrieking ]

[ soldier shouting and woman sobbing]

[ somber theme playing]

Excuse me, please don't get too close to the paintings.

I like looking at the detail.

Do you know anything about this artist?

Not really. I mean, I picked up a little

from that lecture the other night.

The one you left.

What do you remember from the lecture?

How much he suffered, losing his family...

his mother dying of starvation in his arms.

When you look at this painting, can you understand?

Understand what?

That he would kill himself.

His home was lost, his family destroyed,

never to be seen again.

This painting shows his pain.

So much pain.

He couldn't stand it.

[ Armenian folk music playing over speakers ]

What do you think?

I haven't finished it.

What you've read so far.

Rouben,

I'm not the best judge for this kind of thing.

I've never read a script before.

Did you get to the part where Gorky rushes into the street

and grabs the rifle from the wounded Turk?

Yes.

I know Edward's style is a bit over-the-top, but...

It's really...

It's very good.

Listen,

maybe I'll get more excited when I actually see it.

It's--

It's difficult for me to imagine these things.

[ dramatic theme playing]

[ gunfire ]

[ men yelling ]

MAN [ in Armenian ]: Go retrieve the rifle! Run! Run!

[ dramatic theme playing]

ANI: "As a boy involved in the heroic defense of Van,

"Gorky was witness to one of the most courageous moments

in Armenian history."

[ horse whinnying ]

"But the years which were to follow

"would see him lose a home, his people,

"and most dramatically, his beloved mother.

"In his most famous painting,

"Gorky leaves his mother's hand unfinished,

"as if the history of its composition,

"like that of his people, had been violently interrupted.

"The earthly sensuality of the mother's touch is no more.

Only a pure, burning spiritual light remains."

CELIA: Excuse me.

You said before

that Gorky worked on that painting ten years.

That's right.

Is it possible to work on something that long

and leave it unfinished?

The painting is finished.

The unfinished hands of his mother

were left purposely that way.

Yeah, but don't you think he finished his mother's hands

and after, decided to erase them?

That he needed to destroy what he made?

Can we talk about his suicide?

No.

Why not?

Because that was not what I had intended to read today.

I'm just curious

about the way you described his suicide in your book.

You make it sound as if Gorky was obsessed

with memories of the genocide, but you don't talk about--

Thank you all for coming to this event.

Okay, I just want to talk about the suicide.

[ in French ]: What's your fucking problem?

[ in English ]: You said something to my father.

[ in French ]: Like what?

[ in English ]: That you were having an affair.

[ in French ]: Don't get involved in things that don't concern you.

[ in French ]: Did you intend to destroy his life?

What are you talking about?

My father left my mother for you.

My father gave up everything for you.

Listen, your father was fully aware of what he was doing.

I have nothing to apologize for.

My father loved you. My father was suffering.

If he knew that you were having an affair,

I have no doubt that he would have killed himself.

ANI: Your father died accidentally.

He tripped and fell.

I don't have any other way of explaining it.

It's a question of time. There's no rush to separate.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

ANI: Look, I didn't see him fall.

CELIA: You didn't see him fall,

or you don't want to think you saw him fall?

ANI: I don't remember anything,

but the fact that he slipped and he fell.

I can't remember it the way you want me to.

And even if I could remember what you want me to remember,

I won't.

I don't need to.

Do you understand?Uh-huh.

[ in English ]: Yeah. Heh.

[ dramatic theme playing]

Hey. Hey! Wait, no!

Let go. Let go.

She was carrying a knife.

Yes.

So there was a certain degree of premeditation?

It was a pocketknife, something she always carries.

Oh, because she never knew when she might need it?

What do you mean?I'm talking about her job,

what she did for a living.

Oh, yes, I know all sorts of things.

When she was arrested,

the police discovered she dealt drugs

as well as various credit frauds on the Net.

You were questioned about your involvement.

She insisted you had nothing to do with it.

It's all in your files.

Was that true?

What?

That you had nothing to do with it?

I... I knew about it.

Well, you didn't tell anyone?

No.

So you didn't have a problem with the fact

that your sister was dealing in drugs?

Stepsister.

Ah, yes, stepsister.

Most people are obvious

about the crimes they commit.

By the time I get them to this room,

it's just a matter of time before it all comes out.

RAFFI: What?The shit.

I don't understand.

My job becomes pretty simple, really. I sit where you are,

I watch them on this toilet, waiting for the truth.

The compressed tablets of heroin,

sometimes they get so nervous, the body acid breaks the package

and they overdose.

But that can take hours.

I sit and wait.

It's usually pretty silent.

They have time to think, so do I.

You know what goes through my mind, Raffi?

I wonder if I should feel sorry for them.

They're usually kids, around your age.

I'm about to destroy their lives.

I know they're sorry for what they've done

and they'll never go through it again,

but the action's been taken. It's too late.

I had to go there.

I have no doubt about that. A flame was lit in your heart.

You thought things would be clarified by going there.

But they weren't. You lost meaning.

And people are vulnerable when they lose meaning.

They do stupid things.

I didn't lose meaning.

It's more like the meaning of things changed.

What are you doing?

There's something I need to read to you.

Ani, you're being ridiculous. Her attacking the painting

had nothing to do with this film.

I won't go on with this.

Listen, you need to. We all do.

Rouben, what does this mean to you?

I'm sickened by it.

Because you feel responsible?No, of course not.

I'm sickened because people shouldn't do those things.

What, attack works of art?

What's your point, Ani?

Rouben, you're sickened because that painting

is a repository of our history.

It's a sacred code that explains who we are

and how and why we got here.

Excuse me. You can't go on set. We're rolling.

We have an intruder on set.

MAN 1: It's okay. We'll handle it from here.

MAN 2: Clamp, clamp.MAN 3: What is she doing?

WOMAN 1: Oh, look at this.

MAN 3: It took us hours to set this up.

I need to talk to you.

WOMAN 2: They better be paying me for overtime.

Please, we're shooting a scene.

All right. We're cutting now.

MARTIN: What is this? Goddamn it!

We are surrounded by Turks.

We've run out of supplies. Most of us will die.

The crowd needs a miracle. This child is bleeding to death.

If I can save his life, it may give us the spirit to continue.

And this is his brother.

His pregnant sister

was raped in front of his eyes

before her stomach was slashed open

to stab her unborn child.

His father's eyes were gouged out of his head

and stuffed into his mouth.

And his mother's breasts were ripped off.

She was left to bleed to death.

Who the fuck are you?

[ sighs ]

[ somber theme playing]

"In a field of cinders where Armenian life was dying,

"a German woman trying not to cry

"told me the horrors she'd witnessed.

"'I must tell you what I saw so people will understand

the crimes that men do to men.'"

[ in German ]: It was Sunday morning.

The first useless Sunday dawning on the corpses.

I saw a dark crowd in the courtyard

lashing a group of young women.

An animal of a man shouted, "Dance."

RAFFI [ in English ]: "'You must dance. Dance when the drum beats.'

"With fury, the whips cracked on the flesh of the women.

"Hand in hand, the brides began their circle dance.

"'Dance,' they raved.

'Dance till you die.'"

[ in German ]: "Dance with bare breasts, without shame."

[ whip cracks]

[ men yelling ]

[ whip cracks ]

[ women shrieking ]

Then...

...someone brought a jug of kerosene.

RAFFI [ in English ]: "The brides were anointed.

"'Dance,' they thundered.

"There was a fragrance sweeter than any perfume.

"With a torch, they set the brides on fire,

"and the charred bodies rolled to their deaths.

"The German woman looked at me and said,

"'How shall I dig out these eyes of mine?

Tell me, how?'"

[ women screaming ]

[ sobbing ]

[ record needle scratching ]

[ soft theme playing]

[ sobbing ]

RAFFI [ over monitor ]: This is it, Mom.

Madonna and Child on the island of Akdamar,

where it all began.

I was there when they shot that scene.

It was the same day she attacked the painting,

the painting based on this.

I left for Turkey a week later.

Does she know you went to the island?

Who?Your mother.

No, she doesn't.

Have you spoken to her?No.

People lose touch.

There's something I've been meaning to ask you.

Yeah?

Aren't there dogs used for this sort of thing?

What sort of thing?

If you think there are drugs in these cans.

Yeah, we have dogs for that.

So, uh, why don't you use one?

What? A dog.

A dog would take away what I like most about this job.

What's that?

The opportunity to better understand how the mind works.

A dog would come in and bark

and that bark would mean only one thing.

That there were drugs in these cans.

[ barks ]

"You're lying. I caught you. You're a liar."

That's what a dog does.

Right.

I'm not saying what a dog does isn't important,

but there are other issues involved, aren't there?

Things a dog doesn't have the capacity to consider.

A dog wouldn't know he's being retired.

That this is his last day,

his final interrogation.

Is someone picking you up?

No.

Good.

They'd be worried.

Heh. Even I'm worried.

About what?

About you.

What are we going to do?

There's no one I can contact.

There's no way of confirming

that a single word you've told me tonight is true.

Everything I've told you is exactly what happened.

[ majestic theme playing]

[ soldiers shouting ]

EDWARD: My mother never told me

about what happened during the march.

Only one story.

They had a pomegranate tree in the garden.

and when they came to take the family away

she grabbed one of the fruit.

She knew the journey would be long.

Every day, she would take out one seed and eat it.

She would bite it bit by bit,

pretending that one seed was a whole meal.

Try it.

Now when I eat a pomegranate seed

it gives me two things:

Luck,

and the power to imagine.

[ cell phone ringing ]

Hello?

Mom, hi.

Raffi?

Raffi, where are you?

I just got back to Toronto.

They've stopped me here at customs

with all the footage I got for the film.

They're wondering what's inside the cans.

What cans? What are you talking about?

Yeah, the stuff I had to shoot around Van.

They've stopped me here at customs

and, uh, they want to open the cans

but they can't, because the--

[ in Armenian]: Raffi, do you want me to lie?

Yes.

I miss you too.

I have so much to tell you, Mom.

I went to Akdamar.

ANI: Akdamar?

I saw the Mother and Child on the church.

I had some days free, so I went to Akdamar.

Here, I'm going to hand you over to the inspector.

He wants to know more about the film this is for.

Hello, are you Raffi's mother?

ANI: Yes, I am.

Are you a professor at the university?

Yes, that's right.

DAVID: And you're involved in this film?

ANI: Yes. I was hired as a historical consultant.

A book I wrote was used as a reference.

What was the book about?

ANI: It was about the life of Arshile Gorky.

DAVID: Is he the main character in the film?

No.

What was your son shooting in Turkey?

He had to go to the place where Arshile Gorky was born.

Why?

To shoot some material.

DAVID: And how is this material to be used?

To help show what happened.

How did he die?

Who?

DAVID: Gorky.

Why are you asking me these questions?

Did he kill himself?

[ crowd cheering ]

Ani, we have to go.

[ in Armenian ]: We have to go.

[ in English ]: Where are you?

ANI: Where am I?

Listen, she's at the premiere of the film

and she'll have to get back to you, okay?

Hello? May I speak to my son, please?

So the film is completely finished.

ANI: Please, let me speak to my son.

Raffi?

Yeah.

[ in Armenian ]: Tell me what to do.

[ in English ]: Sure.

I'll meet you at home.

[ cheering and applause ]

Marty, how are you responding to the people

who say this is all an exaggeration?

You know, it's documented.

Really, every word I say is directly quoted

from Ussher's own journal.

RAFFI: That's where I met them. Right on the train.

DAVID: To Ararat?They were shooting a commercial.

A commercial?

I became friends with the cameraman

and I told him that I wanted to get an image with this, this.

I wanted to get a shot of Ararat in the picture.

What for? For the film.

I thought it was something we could use.

How? The film was finished.I wasn't thinking about that.

He had to bribe a soldier. That's a military road.

You can't just go up there.

That's his voice. You can hear it on the--

We went up about halfway, and then we shot this footage,

from there on film, on this film.

Why didn't you tell me this before?

I had to tell you the other story.

Why?

Because it meant something to me.

So this voice on the tape,

this crew person,

gave you the film,

let you use his camera,

bribed a soldier,

and then drove you up Mount Ararat.

Yes.

Did he ask you to do him a favor in return?

Who?

Raffi.

Did he ask you to bring anything into this country?

He asked me to bring those cans.

[ sighs ]

And what's in them?

He said it's film.

Why did you believe him?

[ tense theme playing]

[ speaking in French ]

[ tense theme playing]

ROUBEN: Ani.

Ani!

[ women crying]

[ gunfire]

[ horses whinnying ]

[ soldiers shouting in Turkish ]

[ crying ]

[ women screaming ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ somber theme playing]

[ child shouting ]

[ shouting and crying continues onscreen ]

[ shouting and crying echoing]

[ somber theme playing]

Close the door.

RAFFI: Can we turn out the light?

Why?

So the film won't be ruined.

You're still convinced.

You can feel it in the dark.

All right, Raffi. Turn off the light.

[ cans clatter ]

DAVID: For the last time, what do you think is in here?

RAFFI: Film.

That's what he told me.

That's what I need to believe.

DAVID: What would happen if you didn't believe it?

RAFFI: I'd be a criminal.

DAVID: What would you say if I told you it was heroin?

RAFFI: It isn't.

DAVID: What makes you so sure?

RAFFI: You'd turn the light on.

[ women screaming ]

[ soldiers shouting ]

[ screaming ]

[ shouting and crying continues onscreen ]

[ sobbing ]

[ screaming ]

[ speaking in Turkish ]

[ somber theme playing]

ANI: Sir, arrivals? International arrivals?

[ somber theme playing]

PHILIP: You let him go?

Yeah.

PHILIP: But what was in the cans?

Would you believe me if I told you?

PHILIP: What do you mean?

Heroin.

[ scoffs ]

No. Film?

But I don't get it. You did check the cans.

Yeah, one.

What was in it?[ scoffs ]

It doesn't matter, for chrissakes.

Dad.

I trusted him.

But he was lying to you all night. He--

He changed his story.

No, the more he told the closer he came to the truth...

till he finally told it.

I couldn't punish him for being honest.

But he was smuggling drugs.

He didn't think he was.

How do you know?

He didn't believe he could do something like that.

Dad...

what came over you?

You did, Philip.

I was thinking of you.

[ soft theme playing]

REPORTER [ on TV ]: How are you responding to the people

who say this is all an exaggeration?

You have a visitor.

EDWARD [ on TV ]: This film you can do only once in your lifetime

because it tells a story which is a true story...

[ TV continues indistinctly ]

EDWARD: The genocide of the Armenians

has been denied for more than 85 years.

ANI: Arshile Gorky was born in a small village

on the shores of Lake Van.

From the shores of this village

the island of Akdamar was in plain view.

Gorky, as a child, would go to this island with his mother

who would show him the detailed carvings

on the walls of the church.

CELIA: Why are you showing this to me?

This is the origin.

From the memory of this place,

to the photograph to the sketch,

to the painting.

You told me to go there to put something in my heart.

If that was gonna happen, it was gonna happen here.

I was prepared to throw my whole life away.

Then last night,

we were sitting in that dark room.

As I heard him open the can,

I felt it.

You felt what?

His ghost.

The ghost of my father.

[ dramatic theme playing]

[ bells tolling]

[ children laughing ]

[ bells tolling ]

[ speaking indistinctly ]

[ woman singing softly in Armenian ]

[ musicians playing soft music ]

[ singing in Armenian ]

[ children laughing ]

[ woman singing softly in Armenian]

[ somber theme playing]

[ soft theme playing]