It can be difficult to balance a love story with one of the deadliest wars ever as a backdrop, and some films have done it better than others. The latest to try is The Promise starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale. Set during the heart of World War I, the film will tackle the Armenian Genocide, with Isaac and Bale’s characters thrown into the middle of the conflict, according to Cinema Blend.
Set in 1914 right before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the film follows Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), a hopeful medical student who arrives in Constantinople to bring modern medicine to his ancestral village of Siroun in Southern Turkey. In the bustling capital, he soon meets Chris Myers (Christian Bale), an American photo-journalist, and Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), an Armenian artist. Both Michael and Chris soon fall in love with Ana and a love triangle ensues just as the Turks join the war on the German side, turning against the Armenians. Everyone must find a way to settle their differences in order to survive the coming chaos.
The Promise has some serious heavy hitters in the form of Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac. Bale has a variety of experience in a number of genres like The Dark Knightand The Fighter (for which he won an Oscar), more than proving he can take the heat. Isaac, meanwhile, is a newer face but a quickly rising star. After his breakout role in Inside Llewyn Davis, he went on to make a big impression on audiences as the charismatic Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Rounding out the main cast is Charlotte Le Bon. She’s less well known than her co-stars but has made an impression in films like The Walk and The Hundred-Foot Journey.
Leading the team behind the camera is Terry George, who co-wrote and directed the film. George is no stranger to political films with sweeping stories. He wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda, as well as other films such asReservation Road and The Stand-Off.
The Promise seems intriguing enough and seems poised to be a hit when it comes to theaters, but there are some questionable decisions that could weigh it down. The trailer really walks the line with its love story and we’ll see how it balances a love triangle with the violent war scenes. In addition, the movie is bound to get flak for its decision to cast Isaac (a Latino man) and Le Bon (French-Canadian) as a Turkish man and Armenian woman respectively. Given the film’s heavy emphasis on race, it seems like a strange decision.
