Chechen Purgatory Information

Reprinted from Iron Blood.

Plot summary:

In the Battle of Grozny in 1995, the fierce street fighting was just like Stalingrad back then. Both sides of the Russian car suffered heavy casualties. Even the U.S. military exclaimed that it "cannot afford to fight." Such urban warfare."

A typical low-budget film, this is a film about the first Chechen War made by the Russians themselves. It tells the story of a Russian army field hospital that was attacked by Chechen terrorists. The photographer used realistic techniques to deliberately shoot many tragic scenes that have never been depicted in previous war-themed films. Chechen mercenaries cut off the heads of Russian soldiers and hung them on rockets to shoot at each other; Russian tank crews were ordered to crush the bodies of their comrades. There is no "Leave no one behind" declaration like in "Black Howk Down", only choking smoke, infinite hatred and bitter victory. To be honest, if this film had the financial backing of an American blockbuster, it would definitely be a box office success, at least it would not be the film that the 1997 film remains unknown to this day. But reality is reality. Although it has blurry images, monotonous camera positions, childish sound effects, and pitiful stunts, these cannot prevent the film from showing us a bloody, naked, and hysterical Chechen war. There is no heroic charge here like conquering the Winter Palace, but there are tanks crushing the corpses of comrades in detours; there is no guidance from Marx and Engels's glorious thoughts, but there are two perverted female gangster snipers who specialize in hitting men's lower bodies... This book The film subverted too many things and shaped too many things.

Comments:

Chechnya is a testing ground for contemporary Islamic religious fanatics and idealists to practice religious utopia (in addition to Chechnya, there are also Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), and it is also Russia The last line of defense of national dignity has become a symbol of Russia's historical decline or revival. Chechen-themed literary works, film and television works are the media through which Russians experience collective feelings of patriotism or nationalism. In the movie "Purgatory" ("Purgatory"), the Russian army was ambushed in Chechnya and suffered heavy casualties, showing the cruelty of the Chechen war (especially in the early stages of the Chechen war). According to director Alexander Nevzorov, it was to show the Chechen war as realistically as possible: "I have no artificial heroes, all the names are real. I cannot allow myself to fake it. I pursue and create A world where war deserves its own place”. Most of the plots similar to those in film and television dramas are: terrorists are brutal and brutal, kidnapping hostages and demanding ransom, so the Russian army uses strategies or brave and fearless special forces to carry out search and suppression, and finally eliminate the terrorists, showing the heroism of Russia's anti-terrorism fighters. doctrine and fearlessness. These works affirm the value of joining the army and participating in war (defending the country). For example, in "Soldier's Ballad" ("Soldier's Ballad"), the sick father said to the protagonist (a young soldier): It is good to have participated in the war, it can turn a young man into a real man. Returning from the Chechen front is a man's proud qualification to become a man and become an extraordinary warrior, just like the hero in the American movie has the experience of the Vietnam battlefield. It can be said that film and television dramas such as "A Man's Work" ("What a Man Does"), "Special Forces" ("Спецназ"), and "The Motherland Is Waiting" ("Родина ждет") are Russia's "First Blood", among which , the protagonists depicted in vivid colors are also Russian "Rambos".

There are also some works that are designed to cooperate with Russia’s anti-terrorism operations and have the function of political propaganda. Most of their plots are: terrorist organizations intend to attack Russian reservoirs, dams, nuclear power plants, nuclear facilities, etc. (Demi In Terry Cherkasov's novel Kosovo Fields, terrorists plan to carry out a nuclear explosion in St. Petersburg).

The fact that Chechen separatists receive external support has been disclosed. Since the Second Chechen War, many popular novels have portrayed the images of some "accomplices" of the Chechen separatists: in Russia, they are politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, betrayed military officers, etc. in the State Duma; abroad, they are Islamic radicals elements, Georgians, agents of Western intelligence services, etc.

Any conflict or crisis is not always a bad thing. Social conflict itself has many positive functions. It can greatly unite people, mobilize various social resources, realize national identity, unite citizens, etc. wait. The Russian army has taken control of the situation in Chechnya, and large-scale fighting has receded from the main picture of Russian social and political life, fading into the background. The role of these film and television works based on the Chechen War is to dispel the cruel truth of blood and fire in the Chechen War since 1994, and eliminate the shadow of heavy social costs and casualties caused by the protracted Chechen War (to this day) , another form of the Chechen war: periodic and protracted terrorist attacks have not yet completely ended), soothe the hearts of those who have suffered due to the war, encourage morale, and boost the national spirit. This way of remembering is largely about forgetting something. Russian soldiers paid the price of tens of thousands of casualties in the Chechen War and suffered huge humiliation. They were criticized and slandered by anti-war groups. Their social image is negative and bad, and they need to be rectified and re-examined.

The spread and prosperity of literary, film and television works about the Chechen War are rooted in the huge needs of Russian society and positively promote the image of Russian soldiers in the Chechen War.

There is a detail that after a Russian soldier’s head was cut off, his body struggled for a long time. Is this detail true?