The story charts a classic hero's quest. We meet Nazaret Manoogian as he is lifted from his home and separated from his loving wife and daughters. Nazaret must first survive gruelling labour and death squads in the Mesopotanian dessert before tragedy, and luck, intervene. Our hero finds work in a soap factory nearby as the situation gradually begins to settle down but when news of his daughters finally does arrive, he sets on a rather epic search to find them.
Heroes on such quests often harbor an ability which separates him from the rest, but Nazaret's, at first glance, doesn't seem like much of an ability at all. At one point early on, in the Mesopotamian dessert, he and a group of Armenian men are captured by a Turkish death squad and most of the group are slaughtered. Nazaret gets off with just a bad neck wound but it is enough to rob him of his voice. In other circumstances this would be a hindrance and, of course, it often holds him back, but Akin twists it the other way, turning our hero into a sort of silent witness to this tragically untold story. We watch an empire crumble into a thousand warring voices, but it is the man who cannot speak who guides us.
Many critics, it would seem, have been disappointed by the film's obvious efforts for wider appeal. Nazaret and the other Armenians speak English despite the fact that in the film, as far as I can tell, three other languages are spoken. The violence is shocking but it is painted in broad bloody strokes and, it must be said, this is not the only instance of an uncharacteristic heavy hand.
Simon Arkabian- one of the films leads, of Armenian descent- stated that this is not just the first film which tackles the subject to have a potential for wide appeal; it is the first film to tackle the genocide full stop. It's difficult to say whether we are given a true sense of what went on but it is still an old-school gripping watch. We can only hope The Cut will not be the defining film on this atrocity, but if it can pry open that floodgate, even the tiniest bit, then it is surely worthwhile. We assume better is still to come from Fatih Akin, but his latest still demands a watch.
