The Lark Farm (2007)

Truly Dreadful Film

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

I LOVED the book, but didn't care for the movie at all. It was sitting on my TV for 5 weeks before I had the courage to watch it, and I was very disappointed. I just don't think it truly conveys the horror of the book or what actually happened 90+ years ago. Having read book after book, both fiction and non-fiction, about the Armenian Genocide I hoped for, and expected, a better movie. The acting was awkward, the cinematography was lacking and so much of the book was left out or changed that I doubt I would have been able to keep track of who was who or what was going on if I hadn't read the book (and I read it some 4 years ago.) Having said this, I still think it is worth seeing, if for no other reason than to support a film that no American distributor is willing to touch, and no American filmmaker or studio has the guts to make. See the movie, then PLEASE, PLEASE read the book!

I would describe the "La Masseria Delle Allodole" as a very weak film. When I first watched the film, the first idea that came into my mind was that the film was produced by a foreigner not by an Armenian film-maker. The plot is too primitive I would describe it even somehow without logic. You can understand at the very first sight that the film is produced by a person who didn't live the tragedy that he tries to transfer us. The characters are fake.. The character of Nunik the Armenian girl seems to have nothing to do with real Armenian girl, her behavior is disgusting and not adequate. I am very disappointed with this movie. By watching this movie you can't understand what Armenian people in fact passed through. The inhuman tortures of Armenian people, their starvation, cruel deportation from their motherland described in the movie totally correspond to the reality, however the producers weren't able to show the true emotional experience of Armenians. Their real sufferings and feelings are much deeper and tragic. I think you should be an Armenian so that you really describe that pain. Unfortunately I have to say that I didn't like the acting either. It was not persuasive, it was artificial and insincere.

i entered it in cinema today u know i watch a lot of movies about history specially ww1 this movie the the most complete movie u will ever see....just go and see it now u will feel a mix between feeling thinking the presence and absence of the justice in world forever asking what if what if i was there why they do that is that the right thing is they really obeying rules or what? is that happen every war.. is there another world ... i almost cried 3 or 4 times through the movie ... there are a little extra emotions in movie but u know on target ... u must feel how a man can be treated how the changes in races can make that ...i am not with either sides but i got lot of information about the war from it.. it also made me research about it on arriving home .. i then newed that over 1 million of men was killed in such race war..over all 10/10

Let me start by saying this: until this movie I was a huge fan of the Taviani Brothers. They have contributed so much to the contemporary Italian film-making industry and their epic films such as "Padre Padrone" and "La Notte di San Lorenzo" are landmarks in not only Italian, but also global film history.Therefore, you could guess how much of a disappointment this movie was for me. If the attempt was to make an Armenian "Schindler's List", the end-result is far from it. The plot is predictable to the extent of being boring, the characters are flat, the acting is hammy, and there are so many gaps and contradictions in the story-line. More importantly, you do not get even a glimpse of the usual luring cinematography of Taviani Brothers, something which they are deservedly famous for.All these might be because, probably for the first time in their career, the directors are indeed not very familiar with the topic they are treating. They do not feel as comfortable as they do when they move on "Italian terrain", the people and the stories of which they know almost by heart.Hence, you end up with unrealistic (the scene on the forced march to Aleppo) or not thoroughly explained (who were the "Young Turks", did they have a plan to massacre the Armenians, if so what exactly was the plan or the motives behind it??)scenes. Add to this the over-exaggerated acting (the love story between Youssof and Nonik fills you with pain, not because of its eventual horrible ending, but due to the inadequacy of its acting)...you get a very very weak film indeed.The whole controversy about the Armenian genocide...well, I leave it to the Turks and the Armenians to discuss that and (hopefully!!) come to an agreement between themselves in the future. However, it is indeed such a pity that two very important Italian directors succumbed to the temptation of making a film on a "hot topic", (probably with the idea that it would "sell") and sacrificing in between, all artistic considerations. Leave the controversy aside, but purely from a cinematographic perspective, "Masseria delle Allodole" was indeed a huge disappointment!