Christian Bale says he didn’t know about the Armenian Genocide before staring in the new movie “The Promise.”

Bale, 43, plays American journalist Chris Myers in The Promise, which focuses on a love triangle that develops between Myers, Armenian medical student Mikael played by Oscar Isaac, and Charlotte Le Bon’s character Ana.

The story begins in 1915, just as the Turkish government begins to round up Armenians after the outbreak of the First World War.

Bale blasted the brutal genocide at a screening of The Promise on Tuesday (18Apr17), and said he was one of many who knew nothing about the slaughter.

“There’s something important about a film that many people have tried to stop being made for decades,” he told Page Six. “One and a half million people were killed in the most brutal fashion, and I knew nothing about it, and that’s not uncommon.

“That’s improbably bizarre. This is modern history… The fact that this Armenian genocide happened and no one was ever held accountable may have provoked other genocides since,” Bale added.

The Promise is set to be released in the U.S. on Friday, April 21.