User Reviews

In 2014 the First World War became 100 years old. In the years after 2014 several films about this war were released. The balance between films about the First- and Second World War became a bit less one sided.

There was however one aspect of the First World War that remained out of sight, and that was the Armenian genocide. "Aurora's sunrise" makes up for this omission.

The Armenian genocide began with blaming the Armenians for the failure of the Caucasian campaign in which the Ottoman empire attacked Russia in the First World War. However, the causes lie in a more distant past with the slowly declining Ottoman empire and the religious tensions that accompanied this decline. The genocide proceeded in two steps. First the men were killed. In the second step the women were forced into death marches across the Syrian desert, which at that time still belonged to the Ottoman empire. Many young girls were sold into prostitution c.q. Harems. Estimates of the number of casualties vary from 600.000 to 1.500.000.

"Aurora's sunrise" tells the story of Arshaluys Mardiganian who survived the genocide and escaped to America. The film not only tells the story of the genocide but also of the memoirs of the genocide Arshaluys (who became known in America as Aurora, Roman Godess of dawn) wrote and the movie "Auction of souls" (1919, Oscar Apfel) that was based on these memoirs. In so doing the film also touches on the way Hollywood exploited the story and the way the World chooses to look in another direction soon after the First World War ended. In Turkey the Armenian genocide is still not recognized, at least not as being a genocide. Only on 24 April 2021 did president Joe Biden officialy recognize the Armenian genocide.

"Aurora's sunrise" is made up of different sources such as 20 minutes of surviving footage of the lost film "Auction of souls" and images of interviews with Arshaluys Mardiganian at (very) old age. The gaps are filled with animation. This last source makes the film somehow comparable with "Waltz with Bashir" (2008, Ari Folman).

A problem for every documentary-maker is the reliablilty of the source material. Director Inna Sahakyan had this problem with each of the sources of material. Animation can be manipulated, the Hollywood movie "Auction of souls" was partly sensasionalist and how reliable is the memory of a more than 90 years old?

Sahakyan handled this problem in my view in a very honest way. The most cruel things were not showed in animation, at least not when they were not corroborated by the other two sources. When the memmories of Arshaluys Mardiganian seemed to be more influenced by the movie than by real events they were not used.

All in all "Aurora's sunrise" is a very honest and brave monument to a part of the First World War that had been forgotten by cinema untill now.

Incredible story and perfectly described. You can't say it's fake and made up. There's literally videos of her talking about her unbelievable story in real life. Just the fact that everyone stays silent and the indifferent behavior around the world. The pain and suffering this woman went through. How strong and courageous she is. This is a great example of how Armenians are. This is Armenia. It's always been a battle, a challenge. In history every time Armenias been against the odds. One of the oldest nations in the world and it still survives to this day barely. Everything was stolen - the culture, the people. Millions of Armenians are scattered across the world and are still continuing to live on. Show some respect.

This book is one of the greatest. It shows a true perspective on what actually happened to our Armenia and doesn't cover anything up. Some people have been taught with lies about what happened but if they read this they will know what actually happened so they can learn the truth and understand how most Armenians felt at that time. If you live anywhere but Armenia you should read this book to help educate yourself on what happened because soon you may not be able too. I loved reading this book and and trying to feel and understand what this poor girl had to go through just so that she can be free.

Aurora's Sunrise is such a beautiful, masterful film that puts you through the horrors of 1915 and showcases the incredible bravery of Aurora Mardiganian. It is a seminal film to watch both as an Armenian and as any person, at all. It's an incredibly human film.

The 1915 events are harrowing, but not unique. We must educate ourselves and learn from history, we must forgive but never forget. Time and time again we see genocide after genocide. History repeats itself, even in the current day where we'd like to think we've grown enough as a society to stop these crimes.

If we hear the stories of those from the past, maybe we can learn to hear those now.

I saw Aurora a year ago and it is an artistic treasure. The story is based on factual details about the life of a teenage girl during the Arnenian Genocide of 1915, where 1.5 million Armenians were subjected to mass murder, deportation, starvation, rape and torture by Turkey. Aurora survived and moved to the US where justva few years later, Hollywood made a film about the atrocities and Aurora was hired as one of the main characters. This docu-animation film is a true depiction of Aurora's survival. Negative ratings are motivated by Turkey's denial of the genocide and have no basis in reality.

Amazing realality. Astonishing, spellbinding. Why was this brutal history left out? I had no idea that this genocide of Armenians happened. The artwork was so beautiful, so lifelike. Wonderful animation. Everyone should see this film. You will be so grateful to be American. I don't know what else to write. If l say anything more it will be spoiling the ending. I'm going to post it on Facebook because it's such an important film that everyone should see. I cannot understand why this was not mentioned in history books and in school. We all knew about the Jews, but not the Armenians. Watch it with your loved ones. Parental discretion is advised.

This film is truly a life changing event for all viewers! I am suprised that people from turkey are commenting as this film never premiered there so the comments are clearly false. Sad to see false comments to push hateful agendas. Please watch for yourself I watched with my family and could not stop crying at the amazing story line! We'll done to the Armenian community for showing this film the power. The actors and actresses do a terrific job and were able to bring the main characters to life. I cannot explain how amazing the film is!! Again do not read the false hateful comments from people who have been conditioned to hate people they do not know and a film they never watched!! Watch it YOU WILL LOVE IT!!