THE PROMISE (2016)

Another wannabe David Lean epic, terribly old-fashioned as filmmaking (which is fine), barely adequate as involving story (which is a problem), about the Armenian Genocide by the Turks during WWI. A systematic slaughter, still unacknowledged in present day Turkey, the film was largely ignored on release, yet generated major organized, presumably Turkish, social media ‘trolling.’ The production was put in motion by the late Kirk Kerkorian, an Armenian-American who trafficked in movie company assets as if he were trading Monopoly Board Game Properties, it’s less Passion Project than Religious Indulgence, those church pay-offs that helped you skip Purgatory in the AfterLife. Kerkorian was a particularly dreadful example of one of those money manipulators who left mortally damaged properties behind them while personally coming out ahead . . . and never a look in the rear-view mirror. No doubt, he knew this would tank ($100 mill price tag, but who really knows?), wisely kicking off the year before it came out. In his late 90s yet still keeping the loss off his credit/debit balance sheet. And the film? Of course, the true story is devastating, but here we burrow into DOCTOR ZHIVAGO/’65 territory as young medico Oscar Isaac (with moist Omar Sharif puppy-dog eyes) sidelines a mousy wife during WWI for a grand passion with citified beauty Charlotte Le Bon (underwhelming) amid social/political eruptions. She’s already spoken for by beaded American journalist Christian Bale, doing double-duty (ZHIVAGO-wise) as both Tom Courtenay and Rod Steiger. Meanwhile writer Robin Swicord & writer/director Terry George are unable to hold back the witticisms (‘Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder’) though the dramaturgy rarely falls below acceptable. If only the film were significantly better . . . or significantly worse. But then, film quality is something Kerkorian never gave much thought to.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Is there an alternative on this woefully undercovered subject? Till one shows, try Elia Kazan’s AMERICA AMERICA/’63 on his Anatolian Greek Uncle’s journey out of Turkey.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Five to One the title refers not to anything in the film, but to Kerkorian’s personal ‘promise’ to get this made before he died.