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Big-budget Hollywood movie ‘The Promise’, a powerful war drama set amid the events of the Armenian genocide during the Ottoman era, was released worldwide this month. The #KeepThePromise hashtag, calling on people never to forget, has been trending on social media.
The film is set during World War I in Constantinople (now Istanbul), where the Turks are carrying out a large-scale massacre of the Armenian population, later recognized as genocide. The release of the film was timed to coincide with the date of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day – April 24.
In the film, the historical events are narrated through a fictional love story between a humble Armenian druggist Mikael, played by Oscar Isaac, and a beautiful young artist named Ana, played by Charlotte Le Bon. Ana is bound to Chris (Christian Bale), a firebrand AP war correspondent reporting on the events in Turkey.
“If you don’t learn from your history, you’re destined to repeat it,” “Empires fall. Love survives,” “Revenge is to survive,” are slogans from the poignant saga. The hashtag #KeepThePromise has since being trending on social media.