Finally, a Christian Bale movie where he’s not on one extreme spectrum of weight gain/loss. Seriously, that’s the first thing that I thought of when I saw this trailer for The Promise. Plus Oscar Isaac is getting all sorts of fun roles for the moment so seeing him working opposite of Bale is a nice treat.
I, somehow, still don’t know what this movie is about. The trailer didn’t really give me much other than it’s a period piece and Christian Bale is portraying a reporter. I have no clear idea who the protaganist is for the film and I have no idea wtf is going on. Somehow this movie still has my interest because of what we see it all looks very very pretty and well acted.
The music in the trailer is serene. It’s so calming and is in stark contrast of the calamity on the screen. I like it!
Stray observations:
It’s been too long since I saw a good Christian Bale movie
Oscar Isaac can do anything
Here’s the synopsis:
It is 1914. As the Great War looms, the vast Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople (Istanbul), ITS once vibrant, multicultural capital is about to be consumed by chaos.
Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to Siroun, his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries.
Photo-journalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale), has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father.
When Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men even as Michael hangs on to a promise from his past. After the Turks join the war on the German side, the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities. Despite their conflicts, everyone must find a way to survive — even as monumental events envelope their lives.
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- Oscar Isaac as Michael Boghosian in The Promise. Directed by Terry George.
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- Charlotte Le Bon as Ana Khesarian and Christian Bale as Chris Myers in The Promise. Directed by Terry George.
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- Terry George, director of The Promise.
