Screening Soviet Nationalities by Sarkisova Oksana

Author:Sarkisova, Oksana
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786720405
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Published: 2017-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chechnya As It Is: Native and Tourist Gazes

Among the many images of the Caucasus, the films about Chechnya evoke particular interest as sensitive indicators of changing visual and nationality politics in the Soviet Union. Shifting Soviet administrative borders first made the territory of Chechnya part of the multinational Mountain [Gorskaia] Republic. Later it was included in the Chechen-Ingush Republic before finally becoming institutionalized as an Autonomous Republic of the RSFSR. The historiographic narratives reflect these changes; at various points Soviet historiography portrayed Chechens as romantic children of nature, dangerous rebels, honourable freedom fighters, and religious fanatics.29 Two travelogues by Nikolai Lebedev represent the attempts to reformat the image of Chechnya and the Caucasus in line with the new policies of Soviet nation-building. Following his debut Across Europe [Po Evrope, 1925], and attempts to provide a theoretical overview of kulturfilm as a film form, Lebedev aspired for more hands-on experience.30 In 1928, he undertook a trip to the Caucasus, which resulted in two expedition films: Land of the Nakhcho [Strana Nakhcho, 1929] and Gates of the Caucasus [Vorota Kavkaza, 1929], both Sovkino productions.31

Without knowledge of the local context, Lebedev involved Khalid Oshaev as his consultant. Oshaev was the Head of the Department of Public Education in Chechnya and a rising writer and playwright, as well as a creator of the Latin-based Chechen alphabet. In 1928, Oshaev published V serdtse Chechni (In the Heart of Chechnya), which largely influenced the film’s line of argument and could be seen as a reason behind changing the Sovkino working title ‘Chechnya’ to the ethnonym ‘Nakhcho’ , which emphasizes the ‘insider’s perspective’ adopted in the film.32

Land of the Nakhcho speaks to the viewer in the first person through the voice of a local ‘guide’ . The film opens with a close-up of a narrator – an anonymous tipazh whose expressive mimic and passionate eyes accompany viewers throughout the film to establish a personal connection and to facilitate the audience’s emphatic attention. The narrator is introduced as a ‘real’ Chechen. The ‘tour’ starts by denouncing popular stereotypes about the Caucasus, such as General Ermolov’s notes on the Caucasian War, Mikhail Lermontov’s poem about an ‘evil Chechen’ and the ‘Caucasian’ melodramas, all of which are mocked and discarded. The viewers are promised instead a ride across the authentic Chechnya.

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