The Lark Farm

The Lark Farm (Italian: La masseria delle allodole) is a 2007 Italian drama film directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani about the Armenian genocide.

The Lark Farm
La masseria delle allodole
Directed by	Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Screenplay by	Antonia Arslan
Starring	Paz Vega Moritz Bleibtreu Alessandro Preziosi
Cinematography	Giuseppe Lanci
Edited by	Roberto Perpignani
Music by	Giuliano Taviani
Release date	4 May 2007 (2007-05-04) (Berlin International Film Festival)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	Italy
Budget	€10 million

Plot

The story, drawn from La masseria delle allodole, the best-selling novel by Antonia Arslan, tells about the Avakian clan, an Armenian family living in Turkey and having two houses. The Avakians feel convinced that the rising tide of Turkish hostility on the horizon means little to them and will scarcely affect their day-to-day lives. The Avakians do not pay attention to the warning signs, and set about preparing for a family reunion with the impending visit of two well-to-do sons - landowner Aram, who resides in Turkey, and Assadour, a physician living in Venice. These illusions come crashing down when a Turkish military regiment crops up at the house, annihilates every male member of the family and forces the ladies to trek off into the Syrian desert, where they will be left to rot. With them goes one of the little boys of the family, who was dressed as a girl in order not to be killed. Along the journey, the Turks continue to commit horrible atrocities, including forcing an Armenian mother to crush her newborn baby son to death. Meanwhile, a handsome Turkish officer (Moritz Bleibtreu) falls in love with Aram's daughter and makes an aggressive attempt to deliver her from certain death, even as the circumstances surrounding him attest to the astounding difficulty of doing so. Upon being given orders to burn the women alive, he chooses to behead her.

Cast

• Paz Vega as Nunik
• Moritz Bleibtreu as young officer
• Alessandro Preziosi as Egon
• Ángela Molina as Ismene
• Arsinée Khanjian as Armineh Avakian
• Mohammed Bakri as Nazim
• Tchéky Karyo as Aram Avakian
• Mariano Rigillo as Assadour
• Hristo Shopov as Isman
• Hristo Zhivkov as Sarkis
• André Dussollier as Col. Arkan
• Yvonne Sciò as Livia

See also

• Armenian genocide in culture

External links

• The Lark Farm at IMDb
• The Lark Farm at Rotten Tomatoes