In the last music video for departed rock icon Chris Cornell, the artist pays tribute to victims of genocide across the ages.
In the last music video for departed alt-rock icon Chris Cornell, the artist pays tribute to refugees and victims of genocide across the ages.
The song, called “The Promise, ” had a lyric video released in March of this year, but the actual music video was timed precisely for June 20 — World Refugee Day.
Rolling Stone describes the video as a “confluence of personal and global tragedy [that] blends with philanthropy and altruism.”
The five-minute video features Cornell playing an acoustic guitar, with lyrics displayed in motion in the background.
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He performed the song a number of times before his suicide at the age of 52 on May 17.
The track is for the 2016 historical film “The Promise, ” helmed by Terry George and starring Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon. Although the film was deemed a box office failure (earning only $8 million against a $90 million budget) , the studio said that it was more about social commentary than ROI.
The film is set just before the Armenian Genocide (1914-1923) and is about a love triangle between Armenian medical student, Mikael (Isaac) , a Paris-based American journalist, Chris (Bale) and an Armenian-born woman who grew up in France, Ana (Le Bon) .
Cornell, directors Stefan Smith and Meiert Avis, and producer Eric Esrailian wanted to “widen the scope” of the song for the music video, Rolling Stone notes, which is why they included footage of war-torn areas of the contemporary Middle East as well.
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Avis said that Cornell was actively involved in the creative process. Cornell said he wanted the video to be “less depressing and more optimistic, ” Rolling Stone writes.
Cornell recorded the performance in Brooklyn in March. Philanthropist and producer Esrailian said that Cornell was “always curious about how others were feeling and he had an interest in learning about their lives.”
He continued: “He (Cornell) was always asking how he could help me with some of the different non-profit projects I was working on.”
On “The Promise, ” Cornell told Rolling Stone in March that he felt close to the project, because he married into a Greek family which was affected by genocide at the same time, at the hands of the Ottomon Empire.
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Esrailian said that Cornell wanted to “bridge the video…with fear-inducing images of what people have to deal with as well as messages and images of hope and perseverance and resilience and survival.”
Esrailian described Cornell’s mood while working on the project as “happy, passionate, engaged and creative.”
“He was focused but excited; not stressed. Just happy, ” he continued, according to Rolling Stone.
Esrailian also added that throughout the project, nothing gave him the sense that there was sadness in Cornell’s life.
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“It was quite the opposite, ” Esrailian said. “The song is a promise to persevere, survive and thrive — that’s the song he was out there promoting.”
Cornell wished for all proceeds from the project to go to humanitarian aid charity International Rescue Committee.
“This movie’s a great opportunity to tell a story that needs to be told, to help engage the healing of something that happened at a specific time and place, but it also reminds us that it’s happening now and reminds us what to look for, ” Cornell told Rolling Stone earlier in 2017.
