Educational Media Reviews Online

Several years ago, I was introduced to the concept of the Armenian genocide by the music of rock group System of a Down and later by Atom Egoyan’s film Ararat. More recently, I have reviewed documentaries for EMRO about the genocide which are directed by Canadian-Armenians as they attempted to come to terms both with the legacy of the genocide and with assimilation pressures. These were all emotion-driven works, which left me longing for a more objective, intellectual analysis of events. This documentary mostly fulfills that need.

The film discusses the political and social position of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire prior to 1915, the forced relocation and wide scale massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, and the political and social reasons the current Turkish government publicly admits that there was a tragedy or catastrophe, but vehemently denies the use of the term “genocide”.

The film provides extensive historical documentation, photographs, and interviews with scholars and contemporary Turks. The narration is in English; English subtitles are provided when necessary. The use of the term “educator’s edition” is perplexing, as the special features seem to consist solely of additional interview footage with Halil Berktay, Samantha Power, Ara Sarafian, and Vahakn Dadrian.

Recommended for libraries collecting in areas of genocide studies, World War I, or Armenian or Turkish history.