Review of "Dark Forest in the Mountains"

What is Dark Forest in the Mountains? It is the story of Nagorno-Karabakh: the struggle, the people, the costs, the realities of war. It takes you among the soldiers who braved everything to fight for our lands, among the villagers who lost families due to the war, and portrays the conflict as never before seen on film. I should say that the man who made the film is Roger Kupelian, but have you ever heard of him?

Roger is a visual effects artist who has worked on many of Hollywood's biggest films, including Lord of the Rings, Flags of Our Fathers, The Animatrix, The Truman Show, Batman & Robin, Jerry Maguire, and others. He traveled to the region in 1994 to document the war and spent the next six years putting it all together, with a welcome mix of actual footage and animations. The first version of the film was released in 2000, but the new Special Edition version has that and much more.

In addition to the main documentary, the Special Edition DVD includes the new "Hands and a Homeland," which is basically a mini-film ten years on. The people in the original film are interviewed again ten years later. It's interesting to see how their lives have changed, how their views have changed, and how so much has remained the same. Included in the new DVD is also a war journal and the personal photography of Roger Kupelian, which have not been seen until now.

However, my most favorite section of the DVD is the animated history of Armenia. If you've seen those slick Discovery Channel programs about World History and so on, that's how this is done, except as it pertains to Armenia. There are plenty of pictures, videos, animations, maps, you name it, all put together beautifully to illustrate our long history.

There isn't any other film like this one, and not only from the point of view of content, but the execution, as well. While there's plenty of footage from this terrible war, the glimpses into the lives of soldiers, families, doctors, and so on, is what sets this movie apart. You can't watch this film without at least a tear.

Don't take my word for it: the film won the AFFMA Jury Prize in 2002. You can find some pictures and ordering information from the link below.

Dark Forest in the Mountains