From Chechnya to Chernobyl 1998
Distributed by Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-FROG (3764)
Produced by Log In Productions
A film by Slawomir Grünberg
VHS, color, 45 min. (long version), 30 min. (short version)
High School - Adult
History, European Studies
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Kathleen Loomis, Electronic Resources Librarian, State University of New York College at Fredonia, Fredonia, NY 14063; loomis@fredonia.eduThis documentary chronicles the life of the Tsiplaev family, refugees from the Chechnyan war who accepted incentives from the Russian government to resettle a village irradiated during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. They moved from Grozny, Chechnya to the small farming village of Raduga, Belarus to escape the war in their country. Slawomir Grunberg, director and narrator of the film, interviews the family, asking them why they would want to live in a high radiation area. The family states that their quality of life is better in Raduga than in Grozny, where they and their children were in constant fear of being killed. Also outlined is the family's trouble adjusting to living so far away from home. Grunberg interviews other people in the village, some of whom are also refugees from other wars in the former Soviet states. These people seem unconcerned with living in the zone. They go about their every-day life without worrying if the food they eat or the water they drink is contaminated.
There are areas in the film where additional editing is warranted. There were several points in the film where the same question was asked several times (i.e. "Why did you leave Grozny?" "Aren't you afraid of dying here?"). Some of these instances could have been cut, making the film more interesting and easy to view. There is a shorter version of the film that could resolve these problems. However, this reviewer has not seen the shorter version.
Missing from the film are the specific consequences of living in a radiation zone, which is touched upon only lightly. At one point it is stated that the younger daughter in the family has to go to the hospital for treatment for an enlarged thyroid, and then the topic is never brought up again. More prevalent in the film are the family members' insights into the war in Chechnya and the people that were left behind.
From Chechnya to Chernobyl a unique film that covers a topic of which most of us are unaware. This intriguing documentary is recommended for an undergraduate college curriculum that would cover modern European history or current events.