By Danny Peary and Will Tentindo
Documentarian Joe Berlinger (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Brother’s Keeper, Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru) is back with another powerful, political film, yet this time he is trying a new approach that he believes is a first. Intent to Destroy, Berlinger’s thirteenth documentary, is set behind the scenes of The Promise, Terry George’s romantic drama set during the Armenian Genocide.
“I felt I had something to add to the conversation, because by using the structure of the behind-the-scenes of the movie it would allow me to not just tell the history of the genocide, but also the history of the denial, the mechanism of denial, the aftermath of denial that no one really has ever made a film about.”
Producer of both The Promise and Intent to Destroy, Eric Esrailian approached Berlinger to make a film about the Armenian Genocide, but Berlinger first turned it down. “The idea of doing a talking heads archivally-driven film wasn’t that interesting to me,” Berlinger said. “A, because it’s not my style of filmmaking, and B, several documentaries on the genocide existed already. I didn’t think I had anything to add to the conversation.”
The Promise is one of, if not the first, mainstream Hollywood films to deal with the Armenian Genocide, so when Berlinger found out about the film, he realised his angle to the story. Berlinger said: “I knew that it was historic that this film was being made because the history in Hollywood is that anytime a film has been attempted the Turkish government calls the state department and the state department twists the arm of the studio to drop the movie.
“It’s just become one of those things in Hollywood,” he said. “You don’t make a movie about the Armenian genocide, which I find really morally problematic.”
So Berlinger decided to make a movie about the people daring enough to make that movie. But do not confuse Intent to Destroy with any previous behind-the-scenes documentary! The film is really a deep-dive into the history of the Armenian Genocide. It uses The Promise to give the information and the history of the genocide a narrative arc. “I am using the making of The Promise as a structural device to tell the history of the genocide and the history of denial and to pose questions about how do you portray atrocity on the screen.”
Previous films by Berlinger have resulted in real-world action. His Paradise Lost trilogy is credited with getting the West Memphis Three out of a wrongful murder conviction after being in prison for close to twenty years. He credits that not just to his film, but also to the audience’s response of demanding justice. Berlinger hopes to create a similar response with Intent to Destroy.
“You evoke that response only by giving your audience the intelligence they deserve to come to their own conclusion. So, I fully expect some people to watch Intent to Destroy and say ‘Well, there’s still a debate, I’m not sure there was a genocide.’ That’s the price you pay by treating an audience with respect, but hopefully most people will come away from it feeling like this is an injustice that needs to be made right. But when interviewing the people who represent the opinion that the genocide didn’t happen, you have to treat them with respect and give them the dignity of expressing their opinions.”
The Australian government does not officially recognise the Armenian Genocide as a genocide, but 27 countries, including Canada, Russia and Germany, currently do. Berlinger wants to stop the spreading of denial by demanding that governments recognise the genocide and push Turkey to recognise and to teach this tragic history.
“There’s a growing contingent of Turkish people who recognise it and who advocate for change. It’s not an easy opinion to have, it’s against the law in Turkey to talk about the genocide as genocide, it’s literally against the law,” he said. “In this current regime with Erdogan’s widened powers; they have the most journalists jailed than any other country, I think it’s going to be challenging.
“We’re living in times that people are so overwhelmed with a multiplicity of opinions that people are paralysed with inaction,” he added. “And I think we’re going to regret that in the future.”
Intent to Destroy premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, and played at the Human Rights Film Festival in May.
