The Cut

source: The Cut

Not a movie for every ones taste, because this movie is quite hard stuff because it's content is about a genocide. In some of the scenes i got goosebumps because of the emotional character of the scenes (especially when Armenians got killed or when the protagonist had to kill his sister in law, when he was angry about "god"). The finding of his child in the 2nd part of the film was a little bit sluggish, but also these sluggish scenes created an atmosphere how hard it was to find his daughters. Like my forerunner said, for my taste it had been a good movie and it is NOT for everyone's taste. If you like Science-Fiction or would like to watch a cuddle movie, don't watch this one.

I found "The Cut" to be quite an amazing film. The story is epic almost biblical and unforgettable. Through the horrors of the Armenian genocide a few acts of humanity make all the difference. It's probably not the best film for the flapjack eating simpleton but if you can handle subtitles, respect other cultures and appreciate profound human experience, pick this one up. It certainly beats the prepackaged, formula, market tested, predictable hogwash vomited out of Hollywood year after year.

Ruinous fall for one of the most interesting directors of his generation, as often happens to the great ones. Maybe the idea of making his blockbuster betrayed him. The most irritating thing is represented by the improbability of the coincidences, and shows little attention in drafting the script, reworked nothing less than by Mardik Martin. Yet the historical event deserved a more than hasty approach. Not to mention the totally flat acting. Painful penance for those who hold up to the end! Fortunately, the director will recover with the next two films: Oltre la notte and the Monster of St. Pauli.

Not interesting as you expected. It doesn't touch your soul

Fake "genocide" movie it's nothing but a waste of time. Maybe next time They won't be puppets of Armenian lobbies and tell the truth.

I should say Faith Akin is currently one of the most important directors from Germany of Turkish descent. He brought a fresh spirit to German and Turkish film scene. He shows also great courage with the theme Armenian Genocide. He explains a personal story, but also takes a step to the Armenians from Turkish side, and try to say "we understand your suffering." Regrettably that is enough to be excommunicated from Turkish community, because it is still a taboo to talk about Armenian problem in such a way. It is a pity that he missed such a great chance to create a good film with his humanistic intentions. Most of the scenes feel like staged, acting is mostly average. The main problem with the movie is the atmosphere. When I see a good movie, I forget that it is a movie and create an emotional connection with the characters. That is the most important thing for me as I evaluate a film. And it lacked completely for me. It could be the worst cinematographic work of Faith Akin till now. Still deserves above average from me.

It has taken a certain courage for Akin Faith, a Turk, to make 'The Cut', a tale of wandering of an Armenian in the aftermath of the Armenian genocide a century ago in the twilight hours of the Ottoman Empire. It also helps that Akin doesn't live in Turkey, but Germany, which spares him of a danger to his life were in Turkey. Technically, the film is well shot, but, alas, too long as Nazarat Moonogian takes up the pilgrim's staff to find his twin daughters. As Nazarat (Nazareth), Akin chose well: the Cesar winning actor Rahim Tahar, who does a yeoman's job as the wandering Armenian, as he goes from Syria to Lebanon then Cuba to Minneapolis and finally to the snow driven plains of North Dakota to find his daughter. As his name implies he is the embodiment of a Christian hero who has suffered much, for like his namesake, he is the branch of family that although disfigured by a Turkish massacre, he remains rooted in the soil of his determination and his ethnicity that is still capable of bearing fruit and surviving. 'The Cut' is a cinematic thanksgiving of survival, grit and determination to withstand the vagaries of Turkish prejudice. And, it is to Akin camera that honesty in dealing with a genocide which even today Turkey denies.

Movie is falsifying history along with poorly written scenario and bad director skills. Do not watch it and spend your time so pointless.

IN Turkey today it is a serious crime to use the word "Genocide" in reference to the systematic expulsion of Armenians from Turkish Soil in the period from 1915 to 1923. During this time 1.5 million Armenians (highly conservative estimate!) were either murdered outright or perished on forced death marches through the Syrian desert. A few Turkish intellectuals have spoken out against the official Turkish policy of Genocide Denial but, needless to say, there has never been a Turkish film touching this theme --- Until now! THE CUT, Directed by German-Turkish filmmaker Faith Akin pulls no punches in depicting Turkish Brutality in excruciating detail and the scattering of the survivors to the far ends of the earth -- in this case Cuba, Minneapolis, and finally the frozen wastes of North Dakota in winter. Faith AKIN (42) establishedß his Credentials with the Film "Against the Wall" depicting friction between Turks and Kurds in Hamburg which won the Golden Bear Top Prize at Berlin in 2004. Since then he has continued to address controversial issues in his films with characteristic boldness. THE CUT opens in the home of the peaceful Armenian Manoogian family but soon Turkish soldiers burst in, Gestapo style, and cart all the men off for "investigation" as the rest of the family cowers in terror. Next we see the men outside doing forced labor chopping rocks but soon they are put up against a rock wall to be executed. The Turkish commander orders his men to slash their throats rather than waste precious bullets on the worthless Armenian prisoners. All are then brutally slashed to death but one young man, Nazareth Manoogian, whose neck wounds were not fatal manages to survive. (Tarah Rahim, French actor of Algerian descent!) -- however the injury has left him unable to speak -- mute. He then proceeds to turn in a fantastic performance with hardly any dialog -- only a few words of strangled Armenian late in the film. Most of the dialog if the film is however spoken in Turkish western Armenian by native Armenian actors with some Spanish in the Cuban sequence. Found half dead with partially slashed throat and rescued by a kindly Turkish man Nazaret escapes to a neighboring country and some years later learns that his twin daughters have survived and are alive, last heard from in Cuba. He works his way laboriously over to Cuba but his daughters are no longer there ~ last destination allegedly Minneapolis on the American mainland. Again the trail is cold as they have somehow moved on to rural North Dakota. Himself half frozen as he drags himself across the snowy wastes he finally comes, almost miraculously, upon the surviving daughter now full grown. Tearful reunion in a truly remote corner of the Armenian Diaspora. This grueling international road movie is based on a fiction novel but points a non-compromising finger at the grim historical reality of Turkish ethnic cleansers and genocide perpetrators, while also addressing the indomitable Armenian will to survive no matter how widely dispersed. Overall, a gripping drama as well as a compact lesson in Armenian Genocide and Diaspora studies. Aside from that a very interesting film with a towering performance by non-Armenian actor Tahar Rahim in the central nearly silent role of an Armenian holocaust survivor. Most exceptional that it is made by a Turkish director. Bravo Faith Akin! NOTE: The title refers to one of the words routinely used by Diaspora Armenians in reference to the Turkish Genocide.