Ararat Page #2

to place her

on a pedestal of life.

Let me look at you son.

You're missing a button!

It must have fallen off...

Hold your hand in front of it.

Like this?

Yes.

I'm just so shocked

to see you here.

I've seen all your films

and I really...

- Please. Please.

- We're the ones

who are overwhelmed by this.

I've been writing

this screenplay for five years,

done as much research

as possible

and you come up with this.

- With what?

- Well, that Gorky was a child

during the rebellion in Van,

that he was there.

It's amazing.

- My mother

was a genocide survivor.

All my life, I promised to make

a film to tell her story,

how she suffered.

And now,

we are making this film.

- I'm not understanding

something.

Is Gorky in your film?

- Not yet.

- As you were speaking,

we got very excited

about the idea of working

him in. As another character.

Well, not an entirely

new character,

but a character

we could build on.

See, this amazing artist

as a young kid...

It would be great

to have you as a consultant.

- You have her photos, a gift

from the ashes of all

that has been destroyed.

We can open this gift together.

- What's going on?

- Why did you bring up my dad?

Well, he didn't run away.

Okay, my mum just had to

distance herself from him.

- Huh. To save the family.

- He wasn't a terrorist.

- I didn't say he was.

- You said he was a terrorist.

- Did I? Well,

I suppose you could see it

that way.

I mean, he was about to

assassinate a diplomat.

- He was a freedom fighter.

Celia, there's a difference.

- Sure, it was

a really cool way to go.

A lot better than my dad...

jumping off a cliff.

- Jumping.

- He committed suicide.

- Well, that's new.

I thought the story was my mom

pushed him off the cliff.

- Story.

You think l'm making up a story?

- No, it's...

it's not what I meant.

- Raffi, l'm saying

that what happened

to my father matters.

I know that no one else cares,

but it matters to me.

- Well, then how

do I make it matter,

what happened to my father?

- You just do.

- How?

- You go there.

And you stick it in here.

And you listen to it beat.

Beat all night, all day.

That way, you never forget.

- Mount Ararat.

When I was a boy,

my mother used to tell me

this was ours.

Even though it was so far away.

And I used to dream

of a way to approach it,

to make it belong to who I was,

to who I became.

- Marty,

this book is the key

to your character.

It's the actual journal

of Clarence Ussher,

published in Boston

and New York in 1917.

Every scene in this film

is based on this document.

Think of it.

It is the true story

of a man who sees

an entire community wiped out

and is sickened by it.

So... so you can't play it...

- l've read this book.

As well as every available

piece of archival material

that so much as hints

at the region or these people

or the Armenian genocide.

I'm currently rereading

the Bible with Ussher in mind,

so beyond that,

it's pretty much...

up to my imagination.

And now l'm here

to make a film with Edward...

Saroyan.

Okay?

- This painting was very,

very popular even 100 years ago,

when it was painted.

And it's very popular now.

People love this painting.

And I think it's because...

because it's such a warm, safe

picture of two little kids.

We get the feeling that these

two kids in front of the fire,

warming themselves

after their bath...

- How'd it go?

- Think it went great.

- Did you get it?

Did he like you?

- I think so.

[Ring!]

Hello.

Yeah. Oh my God!

Oh my God!

- Good news?

- He just got a big part.

In a movie.

- Let me call you right back.

'Cause l'm in a gallery

and I can't really talk.

- Do you play a good guy

or a bad guy?

- I play a very, very,

very bad man.

Rah!!!

Rah!

Outside the city of Van,

Eastern Turkey, 1915

Just look at them!

Nice and comfortable... sipping

their coffee.

No idea what's about to hit them.

Let me take a shot...

You couldn't shoot a cow!

There's another twenty...

twenty five...

creeping up on us...

And in the front...

one chicken.

Aim!

Fire!

- Leave your weapons outside!

Get him inside.

Get his clothes off.

And get him ready for surgery.

To make sure that we get help,

l'm sending each of you out to

deliver a copy of this letter.

[Armenian]

The letter says to Americans

or any foreign consul,

that there are internal troubles

in Van.

[Armenian]

So inform

the American government

that American lives

are in danger.

[Armenian]

- And cut.

- That's a cut.

- Okay, everybody.

- Everything you see here is

based on what my mother told me.

What is it?

- You wouldn't be able to see

Mount Ararat from Van.

- Well, yes, but I thought

it would be important.

- But it's not true.

- It's true in spirit.

- See what you can do, okay?

And let me know.

Okay, I gotta go.

Yeah, I gotta get off.

Okay, l'II talk to you later.

Okay, bye.

Sorry, I had a call.

- Rouben, Ani's confused

about the mountain, Ararat.

She has noticed quite correctly

that it would not be seen

from Van.

- Well, we thought

we could stretch things a bit.

I mean, it's such

an identifiable symbol

and given the moment in history

that we're trying to show,

l just...

- So it's something

you could justify?

- Sure. Poetic license.

- Where do you get those?

- Wherever you can.

- So that's my job?

To let you feel better

about distorting things?

- The young boy in our film

gets sent by Ussher

to deliver a letter.

He gets caught by the Turks.

- That's the character

we'd make into Gorky.

- How would you do that?

- Okay. By April 1915,

the Turks have completely

surrounded the Armenian quarter.

Within the quarter,

inside these fortified walls,

the American mission, run by

a Dr. Clarence Ussher. Okay?

Outside, a few hundred men

armed with ancient guns

are surrounded

by well-armed troops

with the latest

in European artillery.

Miraculously,

through their ingenuity,

or their teamwork,

they're able to hold

the Armenian position,

but they're completely isolated.

They're cut off

from the outside world.

Ussher has to somehow get word

to the outside world

about what's about to happen.

And so he hopes

that one of these boys...

Gorky, will get through.

- So do it.

- That's it?

That's all you have to say?

Edward Saroyan is one of the

greatest directors in the world.

- Twenty years ago.

- Yes...

- Whatever.

- Raffi, you know how long

l've been working on this.

If it can help Gorky's story

get told...

- Go for it.

What?

- Why do you still sleep here?

- It's my home.

- Doesn't she want you there?

- It's uncomfortable.

It's too humid.

- Can we talk about what happened

the other night?

- Sure.

- That's why she wanted to read

my book, so she could

humiliate me?

- So fight back.

- Don't be ridiculous.

She knows next to nothing

about art. And l'm certainly not

going to respond

to her accusations.

- You seem to be doing

a pretty good job.

- What are you talking about?

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