加拿大青年拉菲（David Alpay 饰）是亚美尼亚后裔，他的母亲安妮（Arsinée Khanjian 饰）是艺术史学者，最近新发表了关于亚美尼亚画家高基的着作。拉菲的女友西莉娅是继父的女儿，他的亲生父亲则死于行刺土耳其驻加拿大大使，西莉娅认为父亲的跳崖完全因为安妮，在公开场合对她的研究成果百般诘难。 　　导演索拉杨正在筹拍一部关于亚美尼亚大屠杀的影片，由于计划将少年时期的高基写入剧情，遂邀请安妮担任顾问，拉菲得以进入剧组帮手。拉菲将胶片带回加拿大时被海关安检扣留，因为女友有贩毒记录，拉菲一时难以脱身，开始向安检员讲述电影内容：1915年，土耳其军队包围凡城，破城后在亚美尼亚的圣山阿拉若山脚下展开了对亚美尼亚人的血腥屠杀……本片获2003年吉尼奖最佳配乐、最佳艺术设计等多项褒奖。时空交错的剧本结构尤为精巧。 　　For Ararat, his most personal and ambitious film, Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) turned to fellow Canadian Mychael Danna, with whom he has collaborated since 1987's Family Viewing (Ararat is their ninth film together). The complex storyline weaves together the genocide of Armenians by Turkey's Ottoman Empire during World War I -- portrayed through the making of a more conventional historical epic film (also called Ararat) -- with a group of mostly Armenian characters in contemporary Toronto, many involved with the making of the film. They are all, to some degree or another, haunted by the genocide -- including the Turkish government's refusal to acknowledge that it ever happened (hence the controversy with which the film has been greeted in some quarters). In the liner notes, Danna notes that the soundtrack is, fittingly enough, "largely based on Armenian folk, church, and court melodies, played and sung by native musicians." It was recorded on location in Armenia (at Etchmiadzin's ancient Church of Saint Gayane) and in Toronto and London. The instrumentation ranges from the conventional for the orchestral pieces to the indigenous -- duduk, zurna, shvi, tar, kamancha, kanon, and dhol -- for the more exotic ones. The Canadian Opera Company's celebrated soprano, Isabel Bayrakdarian, is featured on the stunning "Oor Es Mayr Eem" (in 2002, Bayrakdarian also released Joyous Light, a CD of Armenian liturgical music on CBC Records).