sun 08/12/2024

LFF 2014: The Cut | reviews, news & interviews

LFF 2014: The Cut

LFF 2014: The Cut

The Armenian genocide sends Tahir Rahim on an epic quest

Nazaret (Tahir Rahim from 'A Prophet') struggles to survive genocide, and find his family

There have been pitifully few films about the Ottoman Turks’ genocide of 1.5 million Armenians in World War One, surely thanks to the strategic usefulness of a modern Turkey which denies the genocide’s existence. Fatih Akin, the fierce German-Turkish director of Head On, doesn’t limit The Cut to its direct horrors either, preferring to sweep away his hero Nazaret (Tahir Rahim) on wider historical currents.

Compared to Akin’s early work, this is a populist, widescreen, English-language epic.

Nazaret is quickly torn from his happy family in a nervous Armenian community, to be used as slave-labour while death-marchers pass him in the baking desert, and left for dead himself after the cut of the title, which renders him mute as the slave-workers’ throats are slashed, to save Turkish bullets. A well filled with bloated white corpses and a ragged tent-city of Armenians with bodies bruised black by starvation and heat – such images linger. But so does the way Rahim’s silent, brutalised man glows at a screening of Chaplin’s silent The Kid on a village wall, the Little Tramp’s triumph over injustice resonating deeply.

The quest to find his daughters after the Ottomans’ defeat takes Nazaret to newly created Lebanon, Cuba, and across the USA. He finds humble kindness and savage cruelty everywhere. Genocide seems almost as inherent to mankind’s possible nature as love. Rahim’s open, charismatic face carries us along with everything he sees and can’t say. If The Cut is soft-hearted and prosaic at times, it’s also successfully ambitious in the scope of its picaresque narrative, and its breadth of humanity.

Rahim’s open, charismatic face carries us along with everything he sees and can’t say

rating

Editor Rating: 
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

Share this article

Comments

The gamut of emotions on Tahar Rahim's face was all that was needed to make this a poignant story. His frustrations in a speaking world were beautifully conveyed.I thought the use of different languages and accents, with suitable subtitles when necessary, gave the story depth - after all, the diaspora of Armenians is spread across the globe. The film was resonant with images and symbolism. It was harrowing, certainly, but it was visually satisfying and memorable.

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters