A truely European coproduction with an outstanding international cast about the deportation and partial extermination of the Armenian people by nationalist Turkish forces at the beginning of the 20th century. The tale of the historical events centers on the destiny of Nunik, a young woman from a well-reputated Armenian family, whose men and boys are brutally slaughtered in front of their wives and mothers. All female Armenians are forced to leave the village onto a brutal footmarch into a concentration camp. The love of one Turkish guards for Nunik seems to open a horizon of hope... A quite inconsistent movie with some moments of strong intensity and intimacy, overshadowed by the all-too-obvious effort of accusing the Turks (bizarrly embodied by Bulgarians, Italians and a German) as soulless Nazi-like assassins, put into scene in an oldfashioned, almost 50s Cinecittà style. If this production was well-intentioned to stir up the international public to care for the destiny of Armenians, it will fall short to reach its target, as only a minority will appreciate the old- fashioned Taviani style of story-telling, without the slightest interest for point-of-view-techniques, an over-display of obvious misery and horror.

SOURCE