NR | 1h 55m | Drama, Thriller | 2023
Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as the official state religion, but the 20th century was not kind to Armenian Christians. They endured genocidal horrors at the hands of the Islamic Ottoman Empire during World War I and could not freely worship while their country was subjugated by the USSR.
Thanks to his mother’s efforts, young Charlie Bakhchinyan (Michael A. Goorjian) survived the Armenian genocide, but as a naïve adult, he willingly returns to Armenia, believing the propaganda of Stalin’s repatriation campaign (in real life, 313 Armenian Americans like him were lured back to their homeland). Instead of building a new Armenia, Bakhchinyan will spend years behind prison bars in director-screenwriter-lead actor Michael A. Goorjian’s “Amerikatsi.”
Bakhchinyan hopes for a fresh start in post-War Armenia, but he is ill-equipped to navigate Soviet politics. He also has an unfortunate habit of genuflecting when his emotions are heightened. It is an involuntary response that will get him into a whole lot of trouble, when he ill fatedly attracts the attention of a senior Soviet official.
‘I’m an American’
Bakhchinyan quickly realizes that “you can’t do this to me; I’m an American” is not the best thing to say during his initial interrogation. Eventually, the interviews stop, but the brutal beatings remain a weekly tradition, week after week, year after year. Since his American values could also contaminate the rest of the Armenian prisoners, Bakhchinyan is held in solitary confinement the entire time. The only signs of life he can see from his makeshift cell are those he spies in Tigran’s apartment, just beyond the prison wall.
Tigran (Hovik Keuchkerian) is a former dissident artist, who now works as a prison guard, thanks to the intervention of his sister, Sona Petrov. He is also probably too sensitive for the Soviet prison system. Watching Tigran’s celebrations with his wife Ruzan (Narine Grigoryan) and their families provides the imaginative Bakhchinyan brief escapes from the boredom and torture of his imprisonment. However, he can see that sacrificing his art has left Tigran depressed and irritable, to the point that it might jeopardize his marriage.
Wordless Friendship
The way the wordless friendship develops between Bakhchinyan and Tigran, despite the physical distance between them and the risks it entails, is also quite deftly handled. Frankly, both Mr. Keuchkerian and Mr. Goorjian give tremendous performances, especially considering they each have hardly any audible dialogue. Arguably, their work is comparable to that of Raymond Burr as the mysterious neighbor in Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”Due to his slapstick-ish clumsiness and his awkward guilelessness, the guards nickname Bakhchinyan “Charlie Chaplin,” rather ironically, given that the silent film star was often praised by Stalin and the USSR throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Regrettably, Mr. Goorjian (who might be familiar to many viewers but hard for them to place from his many TV guest appearances, including shows like “The Lincoln Lawyer,” “House,” “Monk,” and “Alias”) sometimes plays up those “sad clown” Chaplinesque affectations a little too much.
It is important to note that “Amerikatsi” was produced in Armenia with an almost entirely Armenian cast and crew. Throughout the film, Bakhchinyan maintains his respect for his fellow Armenians. It is the Soviet outsider, Dmitry Petrov, who is openly contemptuous of the Armenian national culture and customs. It is clear Armenia that would be a healthy place for Bakhchinyan, if it were not for the communists.
Mr. Goorjian works overtime trying find ways to make his tragic tale feel uplifting. That he succeeds to the extent that he does is an achievement, almost like an Armenian “Shawshank Redemption,” but not quite. Despite some occasional tonal issues, there is a lot of merit and a good deal of honesty to “Amerikatsi.”
Recommended for those who appreciate Armenian history and Soviet-era dramas.
