Notes From Tribeca: The Cut (2014)

The Cut, an internationally financed feature released in Europe late last year, was on my list based on my admiration for it’s star Tahar Rahim (A Prophet [2009] and The Past [2013]) and the reputation of writer director Fatih Akin.

The Cut is a drama, bordering on melodrama, depicting the Armenian genocide of 1915, a horrific crime against humanity that resulted in the deaths of more than 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during the Great War, through the story of a blacksmith named Nazaret Manoogian (Rahim), who gets caught up in it.  This a modest, hard working young family man going about his life; until there's a knock on the door in the night, and in a moment, he loses everything. Nazaret is torn from his family, is forced into slave labor, and endures incredible physical and psychic  hardships. He miraculously survives the throat-slashing massacre of his work group (the Turks wanting to save bullets), but loses the ability to speak as a result of his injury. Through all this, he is sustained by the hope of reuniting with his beloved wife and daughters until, when he eventually learns his town has been destroyed, his wife dead and presumably his daughters as well, hope and faith die too. Still, he hangs on, what choice is there?

When Nazaret later gets news that his daughters may be alive, saved by a Bedouin family, he forms a steely determination to find them, no matter what.  The second part of The Cut is about Nazaret's quest, one that takes him to Lebanon, then to  Cuba, and eventually to the far reaches of the U.S.  Despite his handicaps – homeless, mute, no money – Nazaret perseveres. Through his journey he (and we) see another side of humanity, as strangers offer kindness, support and material assistance to help him. Eventually, there is a bittersweet resolution.

My admiration for Tahir Rahim was not misplaced. His character spends much of the movie unable to speak, yet his gestures and his eyes communicate effectively and touchingly. As in his other movies, you can't take your eyes off him.

This film is beautifully photographed by German cinematographer, Rainer Klausmann (Downfall [2004]). The Monoogian home is warmly, glowingly domestic; a vast refugee camp is a picture of hellish hopelessness; The terrain, ranging from the desolate Syrian desert to the stark, empty plains of North Dakota, are foreboding but gorgeous.

This movie has been criticized by some for inadequately conveying the enormity of the Armenian holocaust, but to me, those critics are missing the point. This is not a documentary, it is a narrative film, the story of this particular man, through which the  breadth and barbarity of the extermination campaign becomes obvious; we do not need some voice-over, much less a documentary style overview to understand what happened.   Another criticism that I've heard is a bit more valid: the second half of the movie, i.e. the international travel section, is a bit less believable, less well written.  All true, and the movie loses a few points as a result, in my estimation.

Still, The Cut is an important movie about an oft overlooked topic, Tahar Rahim is consistently watchable throughout, and the bittersweet ending is just right.

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