Such a frustrating disappointment

Best movie ever!

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Really getting into music in my late teens I started reading music mags for a few years (not NME!) With having read up a bit about the Armenian Genocide and also being a fan of the Alt-Metal band, I was interested to learn in a mag that System of a Down were making a doc on the subject. After the first reports,the doc appeared to completely disappear,with no sign of it at the cinema or on disc. Coming up to 1,500 IMDb reviews, (and having been meaning to try and track this movie down again) I went on an extensive search until I finally found the film at last,and could meet the "Screamers."The outline of the doc:With the 90th anniversary coming up, campaigns begin for the Israeli, US and UK governments to recognise the killing of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1918 as a Genocide. Highlighting their Armenian heritage and the events of the Genocide in their albums and live performances,the Alt-Metal band System of a Down join "Screamers" (campaigners) in their petitions for recognition on the anniversary. View on the doc:Interviewing lead singer Serj Tankian's grandfather Stepan Haytayan and fellow Genocide survivors Maritza Ohanesian and Verjin Mempreian, director Carla Garapedian goes into fascinating detail on the subject, with harrowing photos over the interviews showing the horrors which took place that the Armenian's continue to campaign for recognition. Featuring interviews with historians such as Hrant Dink, (who was killed for his comments on the Genocide in the film) Garapedian does very well at examining how the Nazis looked at the Armenian Genocide as they were planning the Holocaust.Following the band on their US & Europe tour, Garapedian mixes their peculiar performance style with the on-screen stage videos that detail the subject of their songs. Whilst the involvement of the band helps to make the film stand out, some of the song choices, (particularly ones heavy on swearing) sound ill-fitting to the serious atmosphere, with Tankian oddly deciding to wear sunglasses for most of the interviews. Whilst these are flaws,they don't distract from the Screamers.

I tried not to prejudge this film from its IMDb entry because the whole page seemed loaded with politics rather than viewing the film as a film. The voted ratings appeared to be slanted all the way to the negative, while the comments are on the other extreme, and seem to be mostly written by the converted who the film was preaching to. Regardless I thought I would watch it despite not knowing what it was really going to be about.I found a film that was strong in some areas and weak in others. The strengthen is in its educational value as it discusses the secret genocide of the Armenian people by Turkey in the early twentieth century and how it also dovetails it into other genocides. Knowing almost nothing about this genocide I found these parts of the film to be quite fascinating and revealing as various experts contribution to the discussion of the past as well as the ongoing denials. The former is naturally shocking because of the diaries, stories and photographs paint a typically gutting view of how evil humans can be. However the latter sections are just as fascinating because it is very clear and critical about the powers that be that deny genocides (this one and modern ones); we know this of course but it is never less that shocking to see it.System of a Down deserve credit for using their fame to try and bring the subject to a wider audience by making this film but the problem is that they do actually achieve the opposite effect. At the start of the film there is far too much of a focus on the band and their music and, while this is fine for fans, I personally found it quite off-putting, mainly because I didn't really care for their music. This meant that I found myself struggling to get into the film in the first 15 minutes. After this though, the film steps back from them a bit and gets better at balancing the mix between documentary on the genocide and less of a rockumentary. The approach does rather mean though that marketing the film is difficult and it is most likely to be watched by those politically aware (the converted) and the band's fan base, which is certainly a smaller audience than the subject matter deserves.An interesting and informative documentary then thanks to the contributions of experts and the sense of history. Just a shame that it spends so much time on the band's performances because I imagine that would rather deter the casual viewer such as myself.

After the recent murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who made an appearance in an interview in this documentary, I think more people should start seeing this film, which will further prove the point made in the documentary about the ongoing Genocide denial campaign in Turkey by prosecuting and eliminating outspoken intellectuals. He was shot dead on the 19th January 2007 for being outspoken about the Armenian Genocide on a number of occasions (which the Government perceives as insult of Turkishness under the Article 301), and the fact that he was murdered recently, may have something to do with his appearance in this recent documentary that had reached viewers and had made a statement on an international level.Moreover, the documentary not only raises awareness of an overlooked/forgotten tragedy (The Armenian Genocide), it also raises awareness of present-day atrocities such as the Genocide in Darfur.

I am happy that System of Down had a courage to make this movie. I watched the movie, it was excellent. The movie deserves 10 out of 10. The low rating on this website is just a result of Turkish propaganda, that wants to hide the truth and deny the genocide... The movie clearly shows how turks try to kill all the attempts of recognition of the genocide. However the truth is not possible to hide and as a Turkish writer (who recently got a Noble Prize for speaking about Armenian genocide) said instead of denying the truth Turkey will get more respect if it recognizes the genocide. More and more countries are declaring the recognition of the Armenian genocide. Unfortunately my country, the US hasn't declare that yet motivated by political reasons (it's more convenient to have a big country like Turkey as a political partner as a small Armenia which does not have a political power). Nevertheless, my state California has recognized the fact of genocide...