Let me start by saying this: until this movie I was a huge fan of the Taviani Brothers. They have contributed so much to the contemporary Italian film-making industry and their epic films such as "Padre Padrone" and "La Notte di San Lorenzo" are landmarks in not only Italian, but also global film history.
Therefore, you could guess how much of a disappointment this movie was for me. If the attempt was to make an Armenian "Schindler's List", the end-result is far from it. The plot is predictable to the extent of being boring, the characters are flat, the acting is hammy, and there are so many gaps and contradictions in the story-line. More importantly, you do not get even a glimpse of the usual luring cinematography of Taviani Brothers, something which they are deservedly famous for.
All these might be because, probably for the first time in their career, the directors are indeed not very familiar with the topic they are treating. They do not feel as comfortable as they do when they move on "Italian terrain", the people and the stories of which they know almost by heart.
Hence, you end up with unrealistic (the scene on the forced march to Aleppo) or not thoroughly explained (who were the "Young Turks", did they have a plan to massacre the Armenians, if so what exactly was the plan or the motives behind it??)scenes. Add to this the over-exaggerated acting (the love story between Youssof and Nonik fills you with pain, not because of its eventual horrible ending, but due to the inadequacy of its acting)...you get a very very weak film indeed.
The whole controversy about the Armenian genocide...well, I leave it to the Turks and the Armenians to discuss that and (hopefully!!) come to an agreement between themselves in the future. However, it is indeed such a pity that two very important Italian directors succumbed to the temptation of making a film on a "hot topic", (probably with the idea that it would "sell") and sacrificing in between, all artistic considerations. Leave the controversy aside, but purely from a cinematographic perspective, "Masseria delle Allodole" was indeed a huge disappointment!
Therefore, you could guess how much of a disappointment this movie was for me. If the attempt was to make an Armenian "Schindler's List", the end-result is far from it. The plot is predictable to the extent of being boring, the characters are flat, the acting is hammy, and there are so many gaps and contradictions in the story-line. More importantly, you do not get even a glimpse of the usual luring cinematography of Taviani Brothers, something which they are deservedly famous for.
All these might be because, probably for the first time in their career, the directors are indeed not very familiar with the topic they are treating. They do not feel as comfortable as they do when they move on "Italian terrain", the people and the stories of which they know almost by heart.
Hence, you end up with unrealistic (the scene on the forced march to Aleppo) or not thoroughly explained (who were the "Young Turks", did they have a plan to massacre the Armenians, if so what exactly was the plan or the motives behind it??)scenes. Add to this the over-exaggerated acting (the love story between Youssof and Nonik fills you with pain, not because of its eventual horrible ending, but due to the inadequacy of its acting)...you get a very very weak film indeed.
The whole controversy about the Armenian genocide...well, I leave it to the Turks and the Armenians to discuss that and (hopefully!!) come to an agreement between themselves in the future. However, it is indeed such a pity that two very important Italian directors succumbed to the temptation of making a film on a "hot topic", (probably with the idea that it would "sell") and sacrificing in between, all artistic considerations. Leave the controversy aside, but purely from a cinematographic perspective, "Masseria delle Allodole" was indeed a huge disappointment!