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FURTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FILM FIGURE OF ARMEN, ARMENIA, MY LATE CAT, AND A BOOK SUGGESTION
Montreal Gazette, QC, Canada
April 28 2013
Armenian farmers Shakro and Raya Ghazarian are among the people seen
in Marlene Edoyan's documentary film Figure of Armen.
So, I watched Figure of Armen, Montrealer Marlene Edoyan's documentary
film about Armenia and Armenians, for a second time. I had first seen
it at RIDM, Montreal's documentary film festival. You can watch it
this afternoon, Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 5 p.m. at Cinema du Parc.
Figure of Armen prompted many thoughts, mostly serious, with one
exception.
What do we mean when we talk about a homeland, or motherland or
father land?
Is it the very earth that our ancestors cultivated, and (possibly)
shed their blood defending? Is it the plains, mountains, rivers and
ancient buildings of that place?
The spirit of a country also resides in the myths, songs, stories and
poems handed down through the generations, so can the homeland also
exist in the heart or the collective memory? Can we somehow take it
with us if we leave?
Some of the people in Figure of Armen are determined to remain in
Armenia no matter what, and they hope that their children will stay
there, too, while others say, better to earn your bread in a foreign
land than to starve at home.
Either way, they haven't got it easy.
So many say that there is no work, there is no government assistance,
that life is hard and their children have already gone to Russia
and Belarus.
One woman says that she and her children would go to the U.S. in a
heartbeat, if only they could.
We might think that our infrastructure, here in Montreal, is falling
apart, but it doesn't look quite so bad, when compared to some of the
ramshackle conditions in the film. One family is living in "temporary"
housing that was built after the 1988 earthquake.
Material conditions might be difficult, but it seems that young and
old can recite their national poetry at the drop of a hat.
Can we say the same, in North America these days?
Sometimes you just can't win. In one town, back in the old days, almost
everyone worked at the copper refinery. Their cultural and social needs
were looked after. On the other hand acid rain would eat right through
their umbrellas and stockings. Now, after cutbacks at the smelter and
the collapse of the Soviet Union, only 5 per cent of the townspeople
have work, though presumably the rain no longer ruins umbrellas.
The cats!
In one scene, two white cats with orange markings are seen in a yard.
I once had a beautiful, friendly, affectionate cat that looked just
like that. I got him at the SPCA. He seemed quite distinctive and
looked like what my cat book called a "Turkish Van." Look it up.
(Since Turkey and Armenia share a border, they might share cats, too.)
For further information: The film visits Javakhk, a part of Georgia
with many ethnic Armenians in it. There are some photos of Javakhk
here. (They are not connected to the film in any way, but you might
find them interesting.
Of course, you can find lots of information about Armenia in general,
and the Armenian genocide, in particular, on the Internet. But you
might also like to read a book that I enjoyed several years ago -
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen. It won the (U.S.) National
Book Award in 1976.
Here is a link to it on Amazon.ca.
Quotes from professional book reviewers on the Amazon page:
"More than an excursion into a place...the whole work glows like a
jewel with the warmth of humanity and the appreciation, hard won, of
both strength and weakness." -Eugenia Thornton, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Beautifully written and stunning in its insight and honesty... One
comes to see that the object of Arlen's search is not only, or even
primarily, Armenia or Armenians, but himself and his father." -David
Milofsky, Milwaukee Journal
"[A] moving, passionate book....written with a mixture of passion,
puzzlement, sorrow, and outrage." -Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
"Beautifully moving.... The reader becomes captivated with exotic
tales from the past and joins Arlen's journey with zest in this quite
marvelous record." -William Hogan, San Francisco Chronicle
Both Amazon.ca and Amazon.com also have reader reviews, but Amazon.com
has more of them.
Passage to Ararat was excerpted in the New Yorker. You can read a
summary of the story on the New Yorker web site. And if you happen
to be a New Yorker subscriber, you can read the entire article.
Figure of Armen, Sunday April 28, at 5 p.m., at Cinema du Parc,
3575 Park Ave. In Armenian with English subtitles, 74 minutes long.
(When shown with French subtitles, the film is called Figure d'Armen.)
http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/04/28/further-thoughts-about-the-film-figure-of-armen-armenia-my-late-cat-and-a-book-suggestion/
Montreal Gazette, QC, Canada
April 28 2013
Armenian farmers Shakro and Raya Ghazarian are among the people seen
in Marlene Edoyan's documentary film Figure of Armen.
So, I watched Figure of Armen, Montrealer Marlene Edoyan's documentary
film about Armenia and Armenians, for a second time. I had first seen
it at RIDM, Montreal's documentary film festival. You can watch it
this afternoon, Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 5 p.m. at Cinema du Parc.
Figure of Armen prompted many thoughts, mostly serious, with one
exception.
What do we mean when we talk about a homeland, or motherland or
father land?
Is it the very earth that our ancestors cultivated, and (possibly)
shed their blood defending? Is it the plains, mountains, rivers and
ancient buildings of that place?
The spirit of a country also resides in the myths, songs, stories and
poems handed down through the generations, so can the homeland also
exist in the heart or the collective memory? Can we somehow take it
with us if we leave?
Some of the people in Figure of Armen are determined to remain in
Armenia no matter what, and they hope that their children will stay
there, too, while others say, better to earn your bread in a foreign
land than to starve at home.
Either way, they haven't got it easy.
So many say that there is no work, there is no government assistance,
that life is hard and their children have already gone to Russia
and Belarus.
One woman says that she and her children would go to the U.S. in a
heartbeat, if only they could.
We might think that our infrastructure, here in Montreal, is falling
apart, but it doesn't look quite so bad, when compared to some of the
ramshackle conditions in the film. One family is living in "temporary"
housing that was built after the 1988 earthquake.
Material conditions might be difficult, but it seems that young and
old can recite their national poetry at the drop of a hat.
Can we say the same, in North America these days?
Sometimes you just can't win. In one town, back in the old days, almost
everyone worked at the copper refinery. Their cultural and social needs
were looked after. On the other hand acid rain would eat right through
their umbrellas and stockings. Now, after cutbacks at the smelter and
the collapse of the Soviet Union, only 5 per cent of the townspeople
have work, though presumably the rain no longer ruins umbrellas.
The cats!
In one scene, two white cats with orange markings are seen in a yard.
I once had a beautiful, friendly, affectionate cat that looked just
like that. I got him at the SPCA. He seemed quite distinctive and
looked like what my cat book called a "Turkish Van." Look it up.
(Since Turkey and Armenia share a border, they might share cats, too.)
For further information: The film visits Javakhk, a part of Georgia
with many ethnic Armenians in it. There are some photos of Javakhk
here. (They are not connected to the film in any way, but you might
find them interesting.
Of course, you can find lots of information about Armenia in general,
and the Armenian genocide, in particular, on the Internet. But you
might also like to read a book that I enjoyed several years ago -
Passage to Ararat, by Michael J. Arlen. It won the (U.S.) National
Book Award in 1976.
Here is a link to it on Amazon.ca.
Quotes from professional book reviewers on the Amazon page:
"More than an excursion into a place...the whole work glows like a
jewel with the warmth of humanity and the appreciation, hard won, of
both strength and weakness." -Eugenia Thornton, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Beautifully written and stunning in its insight and honesty... One
comes to see that the object of Arlen's search is not only, or even
primarily, Armenia or Armenians, but himself and his father." -David
Milofsky, Milwaukee Journal
"[A] moving, passionate book....written with a mixture of passion,
puzzlement, sorrow, and outrage." -Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
"Beautifully moving.... The reader becomes captivated with exotic
tales from the past and joins Arlen's journey with zest in this quite
marvelous record." -William Hogan, San Francisco Chronicle
Both Amazon.ca and Amazon.com also have reader reviews, but Amazon.com
has more of them.
Passage to Ararat was excerpted in the New Yorker. You can read a
summary of the story on the New Yorker web site. And if you happen
to be a New Yorker subscriber, you can read the entire article.
Figure of Armen, Sunday April 28, at 5 p.m., at Cinema du Parc,
3575 Park Ave. In Armenian with English subtitles, 74 minutes long.
(When shown with French subtitles, the film is called Figure d'Armen.)
http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2013/04/28/further-thoughts-about-the-film-figure-of-armen-armenia-my-late-cat-and-a-book-suggestion/