THE PROMISE Trailer: Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale Star in Drama About The Armenian Genocide
Here's the first trailer for The Promise, a new movie that teams Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, two of the best male actors of their generation, in a story about the Armenian Genocide. There's a huge Armenian population here in Los Angeles, and while I've seen the occasional parade dedicated to this event around here, I'm largely ignorant about the details of what went on when 1.5 million people were killed. Survival Pictures is looking to change that, and they've released the first trailer for the film which you can all watch below.
At the very least, this looks like it has some powerful performances from the trio of leads and hopefully it'll help educate those who, like me, don't know enough about what went on during what is also referred to as the Armenian Holocaust. The Promise is directed by Hotel Rwanda director Terry George, and the movie debuts at TIFF this weekend, but doesn't have an official release date yet.
It is 1914. As the Great War looms, the vast Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople (Istanbul), its once vibrant, multicultural capital is about to be consumed by chaos.
Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to Siroun, his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries.
Photo-journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father.
When Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men even as Michael hangs on to a promise from his past. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive — even as monumental events envelop their lives.