Film Review of Armenian Genocide

This film was very informative and thorough. Although at many points it seemed very bland and dull, the amount of information given on the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide was very plentiful. The pictures displayed during the film were very descriptive and almost gruesome, making me feel as if I was actually there during the genocide. It is fascinating that such a large number of people were massacred under the reign of the CUP (Committee of Union and Progress), and yet it took such a long time for help and justice to be put into action. Even today, formal apologies have not been completely given to both the survivors and relatives of loved ones who were victims of the Armenian Genocide. In Turkey the Armenian Genocide has only just been recognized as ever happening at all, and it has been since 1915 that the Armenian Genocide has occurred.

The most interesting part of the film was the interviews at the end, with survivors of the Armenian Genocide. It was fascinating to hear a completely true and raw story of the atrocities that happened during this terrible event. It was interesting to hear about how a survivor was rescued as a little boy from being murdered by becoming a “worker” for the people opposing the CUP. If there were more interviews on the survivors, rather than the prolonged and dragged out section on history, I think I would have found this documentary much more interesting.

It is a complete violation of human rights that something like the Armenian Genocide can occur, and take almost twenty years to end. It is estimated that over one and half million people died. Although most of the world powers were in a personal frenzy, being that the Armenian Genocide occurred during World War I, it is no excuse. It is the responsibility of the world’s higher powers to step in and protect the less powerful countries against their own political system. I think it is also significant to note that the UN charter, UDHR, or any other covenants were non existent at this time. The Ottoman Empire had no obligation, or even minimal protection, for its citizens. There was no formal way to handle the atrocities that occurred during this genocide. I am glad to see that the UN Convention defined what happened under the Ottoman Empire as genocide, however many years later it may be. It is pitiful that the present-day Republic of Turkey adamantly denies this even ever occurring.

I think the biggest human rights issue with this occurrence is how uneducated so many people are on this event. I feel embarrassed to admit that before watching this video, I had only a very little scope of knowledge about the Armenian Genocide. We, at least as Americans, have a much larger amount of knowledge about the Holocaust. Although the Holocaust had a much greater death toll than that of the Armenian Genocide, the Armenian Genocide at least deserves to be educated and recognized to people all over the world, even if it is on a very basic level. It should not be something that is just a part of the past. The Armenian people who were murdered in this genocide deserve to be remembered, and have their stories live on for years to come.