The Gendarme

Emmett Conn, a 92-year-old widower with two estranged daughters, lives in the U.S. under a mistaken identity because of a WWI brain injury and 70 years of amnesia. Near the end of his life medications and brain tumor surgery trigger dark memories of war crimes he committed as a 17-year-old Turkish gendarme. Neil Shah perfectly renders the return of Conn's memory, which begins with horrific nightmares and ends with remorse. His depiction of Conn's skittish, elusive dreams, which linger into his waking hours, is compelling. With tight pacing and a staccato delivery, Shah adds realism to scenes of Conn's rape of an Armenian prisoner and his part in a forced death march of Armenian refugees. Shah's outstanding performance of human suffering and the quest for forgiveness is memorable. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine