Evgenia Leonova. There are tops, but where are the roots?

There are tops, but where are the roots?
Evgenia Leonova

Publication date: December 24, 2002

The Moscow House of Cinema hosted the VIII International Human Rights Film Festival "Stalker", organized by the Guild of Film Directors of Russia, the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, the European Union, the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), the UN Children's Fund, etc. Born in 1995, the first "Stalker" consisted of films about Stalinist repressions, prisoners and camps. Year after year, the “zone” into which authors and organizers penetrate expands its boundaries. About a hundred films were presented at the current VIII festival, forty-eight of which made up the competition program. The days of the festival were dedicated to special topics: totalitarianism, personalities in history, victims of war, refugees, women, homeless people and sick children. Only transsexuals and animals were left out of human rights action. “ Spartacus and Kalashnikov ” by Andrei Proshkin (Stalker prize for feature films), which examined in its entirety the violation of the rights of children and animals, apparently built a bridge to the next, IX festival. The “Right to Cinema!” project was also organized, which included the films " With love. Lilya " by Larisa Sadilova , "The Old Man with a Marigold" by Yuri Morozov and Alexander Karpilovsky, "Meat" by Slava Ross and "Red Streptocide" - the fourth short film by music video director and TV director Vasily Chiginsky, for some reason received an award in the "Debut" category - films by directors making in cinema, the first, not professional, but by no means timid and, perhaps, unceremonious steps, and therefore hardly in need of such articulated protection.

The men on the VIII Stalker were given a place in the dock. The majority of Russian films, regardless of the topic, betrayed the stronger sex in full, blaming women for all mortal sins, troubles of the state and sorrows. Sadilova, in whose film all the men are bastards and morons, was especially frolicking. In “ Cuckoo ” by Alexander Rogozhkin , awarded the “Golden Elephant” by Russian critics, the heroes only had enough time to eat, drink and knock up a lonely Sami woman, after which they waved their hand at her and left to look for a better muscular life. It would seem simple: protect the rights of normal, healthy, law-abiding men - and there will be much fewer problems with women, children, homeless people and prisoners. But men were not humiliated except in films of the international panorama, such as “The Son” by the Dardenne brothers, “Kandahar” by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, “Lovers” by Jean-Marc Barr and “The Man Without a Past” by Aki Kaurismäki, who did not forget that a man is a true stalker, guarantor of the constitution and father of the well-being of the humiliated and insulted. Despite the fact that “Stalker” is called an international festival, foreign films do not participate in the competition, and the lack of worthy competition turns the show into a Russian get-together.

For the sake of fairness, we note: many male directors flogged themselves, like a non-commissioned officer's widow, making films that were extremely cynical and opportunistic. Documentary maker Tofik Shakhverdiev , a favorite of the stalker jury, awarded at the current festival by the Soros Foundation, presented the film “Kill a Man,” for which the author should have been sued. Having worked out the next grant, Shakhverdiev casually violated human rights: in two swoops, three swats - several "large ones" and a couple of general plans of a women's colony - he removed teenage girls convicted of murder. Attracted by the camera and an unusual filmmaker uncle, the girls in makeup flirt and talk about atrocities as if they were virtues. One, who killed her child, cries bitterly in front of the camera, which for a good minute and a half does not take its inquisitive film-eye off the wolf mother. The author doesn't care about tears or what's behind the scenes. “I stabbed my father”, “I strangled a newborn”, “I beat up my friend” - the picture is a consequence, not a cause. The authors of "The Cage" - a film about abandoned HIV-infected children - are equally superficial. They condemn those who abandon these children, but it never occurs to them to hint at the reason why mothers and fathers abandon their sick child. The situation is similar with all films about street children. There are several million of these children, they inhabit attics, basements and gateways, steal and kill. Every day we turn away our eyes and refuse alms to these children. The authors feel sorry for them, shifting the blame onto their parents. Sadly, the tasks of “independent” filmmakers are often performed by “corrupt” television producers. About a month ago, in a talk show on the RTR channel, the host exclaimed: “Guys, a child benefit of one hundred rubles is a criminally small amount! Increase it and there will be several times fewer people wandering the streets!” Of course, this is just one of the reasons. But documentarians who like to cry that they don’t get money for their films could at least pay attention to such a small thing. The main problem of “Stalker” is the convulsive statement of opportunistic “tops”, and not the search for reasons, obvious, prosaic and less flowery.

Having chosen a name, “Stalker” took on the role of the Strugatskys’ cult hero - a daredevil, intelligence officer and paradoxist. Squeezing his throat to the cliches of common sense, acting contrary to the opinion of the majority, the hero carried out the so-called “function of the intelligentsia,” that is, he drew attention to the ambiguities and undertones of those problems, the view of which is ready to take a stable form. Meanwhile, out of hundreds of films at the current festival, there are hardly five whose heroes and authors not only react emotionally to certain events, but put reflection at the forefront. Among such films: “Stringer” by Eduard Jafarov, “Flight over a hemp field” by Andrey Tantsyrev, “Mother of Vladimir” by Tatyana Voronetskaya, “War” by Alexey Balabanov and “The Seventh Summer of Syumbel” by Bulat Yusupov.

There are studies that talk about how a specific name affects a person's sense of self. A name is an ontological category that is fixed in the subconscious. In this sense, “Stalker” faces a difficult question not of a mystical nature, but of a rational nature. Having reached his cherished goal, the stalker discovered that he had been deceiving himself and others. The original idea of ​​"Stalker" deserves high praise. It’s also good that the festival has so far managed not to descend into manifestos of one or another party in power. The problem of the festival is either the need for a more severe selection, or the adoption of more radical decisions. The organizers and the jury must agree: we will allow as many different films into the program as possible, but we will award awards for ethics and artistic quality. Otherwise, the Stalker festival, like any intellectual endeavor, will be considered unnecessary and vulnerable.