The complex of God

Only one Russian film participated in the documentary cinema contest at the MMKF - “Cardiopolitics” Svetlana Strelnikova

This is a tape about the outstanding surgeon Sergey Sukhanov, who, for the sake of opening a cardiocenter in the Perm Territory, was headed by Vladimir Putin’s election headquarters. How her hero was transformed from a doctor into politics and what this compromise cost him - the director told The New Times

Photo: Anastasia Kashina

How did you find the hero of the film?

I was invited to the shooting of the Perm Studio "New Course". They really liked my film “Arrhythmia” (2009), and they suggested that I work with them. They said that they have a wonderful hero in Perm for a documentary - Sergey Germanovich Sukhanov, a cardiac surgeon who made more than 15 thousand heart operations, a very interesting, bright person whom the whole city respects.

I arrived for three days, I was introduced to him, and we started talking ... I personally need to love my hero to make a documentary movie. So it happened.

Sukhanov was respected by all - by the authorities, and thieves, and the police, and crime. He is inviolable, it is better to be friends with him. After all, everyone understands that one day they can be on his operating table. In addition, he made the impression of a person of an independent, going in his own way, fearless and infinitely confident in all his actions. In the city, he has always been a newsmaker. For example, they handed him a reward as an honorary citizen of the city of Perm, and he said from the stage: “Thank you, of course, but I have a question for the governor: when will the cardiology center be completed?”

He is really an outstanding doctor, and like many doctors, he has, I would say, the “complex of God”. In a certain sense, he stands between life and death as a warrior. The love of his whole life is surgery, and he sometimes repeats the words of his teacher, professor Wagner: "Surgery is the girl whom I will never change." And of course, he never studied and was not fond of politics. He gives people the opportunity to live for years, even for decades, and politics is too small for him. I once asked him: "Do you want your daughter to become a doctor?" - "Don't know. It’s difficult for a good doctor, but bad is a shame. ” He operated on his mother when she had heart problems. He said: "I will do it myself so as not to blame anyone then, if God forbid what." And he operated successfully.

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"Surgery is the girl whom I will never change"

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We began to develop the topic in May 2011. I spent several days with Sukhanov, following him everywhere like a tail. In the operating room she used to watch how the open human heart beats. I understood that I had to become at least a little cardiac surgeon. Although usually from the sight of a bloody wound I lose consciousness.

And when I arrived at Perm for the shooting - it was in early 2012, - Sukhanov said between the case that he agreed to lead Putin’s election headquarters. For me, as a person who went to Bolotnaya, it was a real shock. How so! The person about whom I was going to make a movie is such a charismatic man, a fighter, is going to support this power and Putin personally ... This is the first. Second: I was going to make a film about life and death, and politics was not part of my plans.

I did not immediately understand what exactly prompted Sukhanov to support Putin. And the point was that for many years in the Perm Territory they could not build a cardiocenter. Construction was financed by part of the federal budget, and partly from the local, regional. And with her there was the most trouble and misunderstandings.

After all, Sukhanov stood at the origins of cardiac surgery in the Perm Territory, and at that time the institution of the heart was located in a mansion, which is 200 years old. Despite the fact that in the volume of operations, Perm was in third place after Moscow and Novosibirsk.

Sukhanov managed to prove that the new center was necessary, the construction began in 2007. But we are talking about budgetary medicine, which means that doctors strongly depend on officials. And if the official does not like something in you, then he will find a way to calm you down, right? It was then that you have to look for ways to respond to the official and get your own. To do this, you need to become stronger than it. The Kremlin threw an interesting idea to Professor Sukhanov.

Sergey Sukhanov in the new cardiocenter

About the generation of our parents

It turns out that you went to make a film about the hero, and shot about the conformist?

Not quite so. The hero is always a hero. Only the whole inner history began to line up around the transaction: “Do you use me? OK. Then I will use you. " Mutually beneficial cooperation, which raised conflict and contradictions.

I soon understood how much you can see and understand due to this seemingly single occasion. As a result, a film was obtained about the country, about the system in which we live. I managed to remove how she works now and, perhaps, worked throughout our history. It turns out that as soon as you reach a certain level, they will come for you - and they will begin to negotiate. And then a difficult choice will be in front of you.

They told me: almost all the heads of regional cardiocenters and oncocenters during the elections were drawn into the political struggle. Rather, in support of Putin. And they themselves had almost no choice. Here they invited you to the Popular Front - and try to refuse. Then your center - cardiological, oncological - will not receive sufficient funding. Or you will be shifted from his post and put your man, who, perhaps, spit on patients, but he is loyal to power. Patients will die without receiving proper help. Think - what will the normal doctor choose? In the vast majority of cases? But all honorary citizens of cities throughout the country, all leaders of vital institutions were invited to the Popular Front. And almost everyone entered. And Sukhanov also headed the headquarters.

For me, shooting of this film was also important because Sukhanov belonged to the generation of our parents, who fought against the rotten communist system, and now ... and now - like this ...

In the film, he only once calls this whole situation “meanness”.

Yes, he only once said that “vilely and dishonestly” to use his dream about the cardiocenter. You see, the point here is that he is a completely closed person. He will never pour out his soul. I once asked if it was possible to remove episodes where he communicates with friends. He replied: "I have no friends." But I am glad that there is no unnecessary conversation in the film. My directorial task is to let the viewer feel like a hero. Try the situation for yourself. Conclusions can do everything on their own.

Sergey Sukhanov planned to come to politics for only a few months

Travel to the Kremlin

Within two months you observed the transformation of your hero from a doctor to politics. What stages would you note?

At first, Sukhanov treated his participation in the election campaign coolly and even with excitement - after all, he had no idea how all this was arranged. And he does not like those who do not understand the case, so he tried very hard to delve into all the subtleties of the process. I think he was absorbed by the excess of excess, and the victory of the election candidate was equivalent to his own victory. He constantly repeated that he was involved in such a case only once in a life, they say, "I will work and forget, but a cardiocenter will appear in our region." But at some point I really carried away. A special impression on him was made by trips to Moscow, to the Kremlin, where the leaders of the election headquarters were periodically called. He began to associate himself with the authorities.

In the film around him, people from the election headquarters are constantly scurrying around him - they make up a schedule, invite you to meet with political technologists ... By the way, I was struck when one of them told Sukhanov: “You need to meet with political strategists, they will tell you what you can say and what you can’t say at meetings with the people.” What is the impression on you people from the headquarters?

I felt like a scout. In this policy, everyone played some kind of game, and I did not see someone sincerely treated their activities. They are at work, they give out a formal result and use the administrative resource to the fullest to solve the problems of their business, for example. Here, for example, one woman, the organizer of all this election activity in Putin in Perm, did not go to the polls herself. And when I saw Sukhanov among these people, I felt so regret ... Before my eyes, the person whom I respect so much, to whom I feel such sympathy, was tightened in a snake den. When I told him about this, he looked at me like a small child.

How did it turn out that people from the election headquarters agreed to shoot them?

At first they were surprised why there was a camera, but Sukhanov told them: “This is a light from Moscow, she makes a movie about the institute of the heart.” I shot part of the film myself, and in one person I was a film group, which seems incredible to everyone. I was allowed to be everywhere and shoot everything that I consider necessary. For this opportunity, I am very grateful to the hero. It was cooperation, and closed doors opened as soon as Professor Sukhanov appeared, a legend man.

There is an episode in the film where he is present at a hockey match with Putin. I would not say that he is looking at him as a loyal. Rather, even with some irritation.

Still! He sat for four hours in anticipation of Putin, who is always late. And Sukhanov believes his every minute, he understands that he could conduct an operation during this time or convince one of the patients that the operation is vital. And it was pointless, to wait inactive. Of course, he was annoyed.

What did you personally take out of the filming of this film?

No black, no white. Everything is shaky and ambiguous. You see, at first I met a person who did not want to hear anything about politics, was independent in his views and actions. And after some time she came to a completely different person. Thanks to him, I realized how fair the banal phrase "never say never." Here I am now thirty with a little, and I am all so protesting (laughs). And when I will be sixty, there will probably be much more opportunities for me, so to speak, “grab”. Testing with money, power - it is probably very difficult, and it is too early for me to condemn the one who, for the sake of fulfilling my dreams, has made a compromise ...

Streams of dirt

I remembered a replica from the hall during a meeting of Sukhanov with voters: “If the system that is now mocking the people is supported by people like you, it will last a very long time. Sadly and ashamed. "

Yes, Sukhanov campaigned for Putin in a very difficult situation. However, in the Perm Territory he collected 62.2%. Despite the fact that at the parliamentary elections, EDRO gained only 35%.

But I think, in the eyes of the common people, who read Sukhanov as a survey doctor, confidence was lost. After all, he did not leave politics, but took a place in the Presidium of the Popular Front.

After the opening of the cardiocenter, constant scandals began, associated with one or the other. Custom scandals. Most likely, other candidates began to dig under him - people who also would like to get his place in the presidium. A certain documentary called “Conveyor of Death” was shot - about the fact that Sukhanov covers medical crimes in his cardiocenter ... such a wave of dirt went ...

Here they opened the center, and it would seem that everything should be fine, but the problem for the problem rolled. As a result, Sukhanov remains much less for medical activities-he is now justified, then he acts with speeches in support of the authorities ... that is, he received the center, but he lost a lot as a practitioner ...

How did he react to your film when he saw him?

He is a smart person, and he said this: “I understand that I am material for you. I don’t understand the cinema, I am a cardiac surgeon. The only thing I ask you is to cut smoking and mat. ” I objected that it would not be possible to cut smoking, since the only place where he does not smoke is an operating room. Well, at times the mat is necessary to characterize the emotional state.

He realized that you showed him as a person who looks far from a hero?

Yes. But since this is his life, without embellishment and lies, he recognized and accepted the film.