The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Marking Hollywood’s first and history’s most expensive feature to be made about the Armenian Genocide, The Promise, despite rich source material and the recruitment of two of Hollywood’s best working actors today, doesn’t fulfil its own promise.

The story begins in the mid 1910’s and it introduces us to Mikael Pogosian (Isaac); a passionate Armenian apothecary living in a small village in Southern Turkey who dreams of one day becoming a doctor. However, he doesn’t really have the funds to pay his way through school, so he ends up agreeing to a money settlement in exchange for marrying a local village girl named Maral (Sarafyan) upon his return from medical school in Constantinople.

Once there, he finds a place to lodge with his wealthy uncle, Mesrob (Naor), and it’s there that he meets Ana (Le Bon); a beautiful Armenian dance instructor who is already in a committed relationship with Chris Myers (Bale); a heavy-drinking American Associated Press reporter who is equally infatuated with his lady love. It doesn’t take long before Mikael and Ana begin a love affair, however, their coupling soon turns into a nightmare when both Mikael and his uncle are imprisoned by the Turkish empire – who soon begin to systematically kill off Armenian citizens – with Mikael sent to an internment camp where he and other Armenian prisoners are forced to build a railroad for the army. However, after several months of hard labour, Mikael manages to escape and from there he make his journey home to fulfil the promise made and perhaps even cross paths with Ana once again.

It’s hard to keep track of all the storytelling clichés found in this historical period piece which, under the direction of Hotel Rwanda’s Terry George, ends up undermining the importance of the subject explored.  Providing a stronger on what is a tepid and ineffective love triangle, the story winds up distracting from the far more interesting and significant events that surround it.

Conversely, The Promise is beautifully shot thanks to cinematographer, Javier Aguirresarobe, and the production design is superb.  Performance wise, all of the three leads are committed to their roles with Isaac offering an amiable turn as the honourable and passionate doctor-to-be who is up front about his promise to another from the very beginning. Meanwhile, Le Bon is equally charismatic in her role, while Bale – sporting a beard and a little bit of extra weight – comes out on top by delivering an engaging performance as a man who goes from a immoral drunk to a righteous hero.

Unfortunately, though, the performances alone are not strong enough to overcome the movie’s pitfalls. Taking on an old-fashioned and a rather melodramatic approach to a story where a soapy central romance ends up overshadowing the unprecedented violence that until this day is still being denied, The Promise feels a little diluted and perhaps a little too safe to deliver the necessary impact.