鈥淭he Promise,鈥� a new Hollywood drama starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, hasn鈥檛 even been widely released yet, but that hasn鈥檛 stopped thousands of people from denouncing it with poor online ratings.
According to Sevag Belian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, that鈥檚 because the love story set in the time of mass killings of Armenians during the First World War, has become the target of a 鈥減olitically motivated campaign.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 preposterous and ridiculous to say the least,鈥� Belian told 麻豆传媒 Channel on Thursday, a day before 鈥淭he Promise鈥�
The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, but has only been screened a handful of times since then. Nevertheless, more than 126,000 people have rated it on IMDb, where
The intense online reaction is fuelled by people who deny that 1.5 million Armenians were massacred during the First World War by the Ottoman Empire, parts of which formed modern-day Turkey.
Although numerous countries, including Canada, have formally acknowledged the mass killings as genocide, Turkey has refused to do so. The Turkish government maintains that Armenians were not targeted and that victims were collateral damage.
鈥淭he fact that thousands of people have surged onto the internet to write negative reviews about a film that they haven鈥檛 even seen is a clear indication that this is a politically motivated campaign,鈥� Belian said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunately the result of years and years of denial of this atrocity by the Turkish government鈥urkey, unfortunately, has not been ready to face its own history.鈥�
Further fuelling the controversy was the March release of another movie that looks very similar to 鈥淭he Promise.鈥� Starring Ben Kingsley and Josh Hartnett, "The Ottoman Lieutenant" was made by Turkish producers and it highlights Turkey's version of what happened during the First World War.
The makers of 鈥淭he Promise鈥� accused 鈥淭he Ottoman Lieutenant鈥� producers of trying to confuse the two movies.
鈥淭he Promise鈥� was financed by the late American-Armenian billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian. Numerous Hollywood actors, as well as high-profile athletes and artistsincluding , Sylvester Stallone and have expressed their support for the film.
鈥淭he main message of 鈥楾he Promise鈥� is that the suffering of the Armenians will not be forgotten,鈥� Belian said. 鈥淎fter so many years, despite the continuous denial, it will not be forgotten.鈥�
With files from The Associated Press
