We have chosen for you 3 war films about Caucasus, which in our opinion are worth watching. About which war? Three different wars that have happened in the Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Unfortunately for several decades already, war has been a constant piece of life in this region. The fact of surviving the war or somehow preparing for the potential one has left quite a mark on each and every generation of Caucasian nations. Both from South and North. That is why in my opinion, without understanding this aspect of Caucasian reality it may be difficult to fully get to know Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan or Northen Caucasian republics.
There are numerous war films about Caucasus. Some of them are more objective, some for pure propagandist purposes. Some are more artistic, some directed as action movies. In today’s episode we’ll tell you about 3 war films about Caucasus. To be more precise, we’ll cover war in Abkhazia, war in Karabakh and war in Chechnya. Do you also have an impression that we forget more often about this third one? As it would never happen? Ok, but this is a discussion for another episode. Today we come back to war films about Caucasus.
Small disclaimer, already at the beginning of this episode, not to repeat it with each film. While choosing those war films about Caucasus we do not want to indicate support to neither side of the conflict. In my opinion there are no true winners in any war. There are only survivors, people and their close ones on whom this or other conflict had influenced a lot.
A war film about Karabakh
Let’s start with the Karabakh conflict. While we are preparing this episode for you, so in October 2023, it seems that the Karabakh parastate seizes to exist before our eyes. We had chosen the film earlier. However, I am positive that the war film about Caucasus we want to tell you more about today is actual for Karabakh and Armenians and Azerbaijanis native from that region.
The film is called Yeva and was directed by Anahid Abad in 2017. This Iranian-Armenian film tells a story of Yeva, young woman, young widow. After the tragic death of her husband Yeva leaves Yerevan or one can even say, runs away from her parents-in-law, controlling and wealthy people. She runs away to Karabakh. She is a doctor, but does not want to be recognized by anyone in the village, she goes there with her daughter. Therefore she looks for other job. But, we, the viewers, we just know there is a bigger mystery in this film about Caucasus.
We are being told that Yeva goes to Karabakh, so Artsakh in Armenian language, to stay with her friends. Besides seeing her life we get the possibility to observe the reality of life in a small village in this region. We see how people try to live with the mark war and left them, not only war, but also so called frozen conflict which was not really frozen. Some war films about Caucasus, I believe the good ones, show us exactly this. The multi-dimensional perspective and the complexity of each military conflict.
You can rent this war film about Caucasus on several internet platforms, if you haven’t seen it before. Interesting fact is that in 2018 Yeva was Armenian nomination for Oscars.
A film about Chechnya
Now let’s move across the mountains. The second war film about Caucasus that I want to recommend to you is Alexandra. It’s not the newest production, because it was shot in 2007 and directed by Alexander Sokurov. We now travel in space and time to second Chechen War. This war took place between 1999 and 2009, but the main military actions took place in the first 9 months. That is why we can assume this is the moment when Alexandra Nikolaevna visits her grandson, Denis. Denis serves in military base in Chechnya as senior lieutenant of Russian Army
During her stay Alexandra visits the base, talks to the Russian Army soldiers. But the second day she decides to go to the town. The local civilians are a bit skeptical of her presence to say the least. She is a Russian civilian in Chechnya during the war. Shopping on the market she starts to talk to a lady of similar age, Malika. This interaction, getting to know each other by those two elder ladies, mothers, wives, grandmothers of soldiers of both sides was one of the most heartbreaking stories in the whole film for me.
Although I saw this war film about Chechnya already in 2007, till now I perceive it as one of the best films about this war and about conflicts on the Caucasus. Maybe it was because I was watching in in Poland in almost empty screening room (there was only one more person sitting there). Maybe because when Malika was telling her story about tough life conditions changed by the war. I do not know. But this war film about Caucasus I recommend a lot.
A film about Abkhazia
It’s time to come back to South Caucasus. We are traveling to the past, because to Abkhazia in 1992. When I was choosing the films for today’s episodes of the Caucasus podcast, I thought it cannot air without Tangerines. This Estonian-Georgian film had it’s premiere in 2013 and was directed by Zaza Urushadze.
Maybe you have already heard about Tangerines. That’s why today I decided to add my perspective on this war film about Caucasus. We are in a moment in time when Abkhazia fights for independence from Georgia. But what is not often said is that Abkhazia was not inhabited only by Abkhazians and Georgians. There were living also among other nations Germans, Greeks and … Estonians. In Tangerines we see the village where Estonians mainly lived. We get to know Ivo, old owner of the tangerines orchard just before the harvest times. Ivo has decided not to flee from Abkhazia as many other Estonians did in this region during the war.
As the war comes closer and closer to the village, he find one wounded soldier, then the other. The case is that one is Georgian and one is Chechen. It’s worth to remember that Abkhazian army got support from some Chechen troops. Hence, they fight on the opposite sides of the conflict. This is not the action movie, in comparison with for example Trip to Karabakh we talked in the 6th episode of the Caucasus Podcast. It focuses more on the interactions and dialogues between those three men showing us the complexity of Caucasus in almost each aspect of it.
Similar to Yeva, this Caucasian film about war in Abkhazia was also nominated to Oscars. It was in 2015 as an Estonian film.
Those were 3 war films about Caucasus we have prepared for you today.
To be honest, making this episode of the Caucasus Podcast was much more difficult than I imagined. While talking about those films about Caucasus I got a feeling as I were reliving each story one more time. No matter how unpleasant this feeling may be, one has to embrace it. Sometimes it’s worth to stop for a moment and think, what are the consequences of the war and military conflicts. I am more than sure that each of those 3 war films about Caucasus helps you grasp it in its own way.
Therefore, if you want to expand your library of films about Caucasus, I do recommend adding those three war films from Caucasus. As an alternative, choose the conflict you know the least about so to widen your knowledge on the Caucasus. The region where everything is interdependent.
The Caucasus podcast was brought to you by Jezyki Kaukazu – Languages of the Caucasus. If you like our series, you can let us know by liking it or following us. We are on Facebook and Instagram or you can go directly to our website – the link you can find in the description. If you liked this episode, you may also share it with your friends. It will help us a lot in connecting with other fans of the region. So see you in the next podcast episode or let’s meet in our weekly newsletter “The Caucasian mail”
