"They don't call it a genocide"

"They don't call it a genocide"
Fatih Akins drama about the genocide of the Armenian at the Film Festival in Venice

translated from http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/premiere-von-the-cut-die-nennen-das-nicht-voelkermord.2165.de.html?dram:article_id=296195

The genocide of the Armenians is the starting point for Fatih Akin's film "The Cut", which has now been shown in Venice for the first time. In Turkey hardliners want to prevent the performance. Because there is the denial of genocide state doctrine.
The new film by Fatih Akin begins with an idyll. In Mardin, in the extreme southeast Turkey today, the young Armenian blacksmith Nazareth lives with his family. There, in the Ottoman Empire, the Armenians lived unmolested live their Christian faith. Nazareth, played by Tahar Rahim, his two daughters is a heart-warmed father:
Look, a crane. Anyone who sees a crane, embarks on a long journey
So the three of us?
As we have seen him three, we three also travel .
But this trip is then no longer idyllic: The first five minutes of the film is a raough, harrowing depiction of the genocide of the Armenians. To women, men and children to Nazareth and his family.
Fatih Akin, who lives in Hamburg, has long been carrying around this film project with him. Realised with around 15 million euro is  the most expensive film he has ever made.
"For me there was always a topic with the magnetism, the issue never released me, i has always chased me and made me curious since I was a teen,and I want to know more and read about it . It was essential, that at some point I make a movie about it - that was as clear as day".
"Every Armenian family has its own story"
And because Fatih Akin has read a lot and done research on the ground, that's not a one-dimensional film. There are the atrocities that Nazareth experiences : abduction, torture, murder. But there is help: for example, the Muslim Omar Nasreddin, which produces soap in Aleppo. He helps, even though Nazareth is Armenian and Christian:
"Every Armenian family that was involved in this genocide, has its own history, and have managed to put a lot into paper. It was supposed to be a film with a much more limited framework. And then it was discovered that and  also heard about the genocide. it is not only the killing, it is also the survival.It is not only the survival, but it is also somewhere to build the new existence.That belongs together. You have to tell  that together, you have to think things over. "
So the rest of the film becomes a quest: Nazareth woman is  killed, but his children are still alive. And since he himself has even lost his voice because of a stabbing, others must speak for him.
"The Cut" is a film about survival, about looking, about finding. The locations are always absurd: From Aleppo Nazareth pulls in Lebanon, traveling to Cuba and finally ends in the barren steppe of North Dakota in the United States.Criticism came already before the premiere of Turkey
Fatih Akin has gotten a lot of help: The screenplay was co-wrote by  Mardik Martin  - among film connoisseurs he is is a legend since his time with Martin Scorsese . The music comes from  Alexander Hacke of the Einstürzende Neubauten.
At the Lido of Venice, the film was has been received with discretion, perhaps because it is heavy going in some parts, perhaps because he does it without the big stars.
And: At the Lido the great scandal has failed. But the criticism came before the premiere of Turkey. There is the denial of the Armenian genocide state doctrine, there want right groups prevent the performance.
Fatih Akin is still optimistic that the film will be also shown in the movie theaters there, at the best at same time as  the film's release in Germany. He believes that "The Cut" would also work there, also because he has convinced his own Turkish parents:
"My parents have seen the film - which has relieved me totally My parents share the official account of Turkey to the events that doesn't call it a  genocide The film meets reaches intersection. Of course I have thought of the film critics. I also thought of the festival circle But I've always thought of my parents. How do I make the movie, so the can identify with an Armenian ".
Whether the film convinces alsp the jury in Venice, we'll know on Saturday night when the coveted Lions are awarded at the 71st International Film Festival.