Armenia, My Home is simply a wonderful documentary – another Armenian-themed documentary by Andrew Goldberg. It is a beautiful testimony and tribute from an American-Armenian point of view to what it means to be Armenian and what Armenia means to all of us here in the diaspora.
Andrea Martin is the primary narrator. She had lots of help from Ronald Suny, Chris Bohjalian, Eric Bogosian, Herand and Yeraz Markarian, Salpi Ghazarian, Vahe Berberian, Dottie Bengoian, Michael Aram and Peter Balakian, an august cast of talking heads who offer their perspectives and heartfelt thoughts to this very well-crafted film. I would love for all my non-Armenian friends to see this film so they can better understand where my soul and heart are tethered. The sentiments of the narrators, for the most part, express what each and every Armenian might say. Beyond the narration, the soundtrack includes Armenian musicians Ara Dinkjian, Zulal (the trio that includes Yeraz Markarian) and Ara Topouzian and beautiful duduk and church music from Armenia.
There was a long and impressive segment on Mount Ararat and how central it is to the very concept of being Armenian. It is in our DNA. As noted in the film (and my previous article, Chidem Inch: The mountain once known as…), this mountain, our mountain, the symbol of our nation, lies just outside the border of our country.
The film is visually stunning. The camerawork shows the beauty of Armenian church architecture and the magnificent countryside from Sevan to Aragats and Yerevan. It even shows the humble homes of the countryside and poor neighborhoods of Yerevan. The use of drone photography gives movement and panorama to this beautiful film.
I would love for all my non-Armenian friends to see this film so they can better understand where my soul and heart are tethered.
Andrew Goldberg is a true friend of the Armenian people. His company, So Much Film, is based in New York. His documentaries are often aired on and sometimes in collaboration with PBS. This is not his first Armenian documentary. His previous films are: The Armenian Genocide (2000 and 2006), The Armenians, A Story of Survival (2001) and Images of The Armenian Spirit (2003). His other films include: A Yiddish World Remembered (2002), They Came to America (2003), Proud to Serve: The Men and Women of the U.S. Army (2004) and Jerusalem: Center of the World (2009).
When asked why he makes documentaries on Armenian themes, Goldberg said, “I love telling stories that are underreported and not being told…” He went on to note that the Armenians are a people who have fought through many difficulties to survive and have contributed to business, science and the arts.
The film is very current and covers Artsakh, including the loss of Artsakh. It includes footage of bombed-out homes and the caravan of cars leaving their homes and a land now devoid of Armenians for the first time in over 1,000 years.
I view this beautiful film, Armenia, My Home, and Goldberg’s other Armenian-themed films as Armenian national treasures. It is, somehow, more impressive when the auteur is not Armenian. This is not to take away from Armenian artists, but there is something special when we are honored and celebrated by a non-Armenian. If it were up to me, I would bestow honorary Armenian citizenship on Andrew Goldberg.
This documentary is a must see.
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Where can I see this docu?
I watched the documentary and it was great. I wish they would have mentioned how our Turkish and pseudo-Turkish Azerbaijani enemies have Turkified and renamed the original names of the Armenian landmarks and occupied provinces. For example, there was quite a bit of focus, and rightfully so, on the sacred and Biblical Mount Ararat today in bondage and within the enemy artificial borders, because Ararat is the epicenter of the Armenian homeland and the national symbol of Armenia, and it has been renamed to “Ağri” by our enemies which I consider an insult to the Armenian nation.
They also deliberately refer to Western Armenia part of our homeland by their fabricated label of “Eastern Anatolia” and that for two main reasons: To remove from the map of the region any mention of Western Armenia and to erase from memory the existence of the indigenous Armenian population they subjected to mass murder and genocide. The term “Anatolia” has Greek roots and it means territory “east of Greece” which would be today’s Western Turkey having nothing to do with “Eastern Turkey” A.K.A occupied Western Armenia!
There are many other examples: Tigranakert renamed to “Diyarbakir” and Garin renamed to “Erzurum”, Artsakh to “Karabakh”, Berdzor to “Lachin” and etc.