[Недоверие]
Russia and US, Dreamscanner 2004 |
Disbelief, a documentary film about the bombing of a Moscow apartment building on the night of 8-9 September 1999 takes the viewer on an intense and emotional journey in ten parts. Nekrasov and his crew follow Tania, her young son Sasha, and her lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin to Denver, Milwaukee, Washington, London, Mosc As Disbelief unfolds, Nekrasov draws us gradually, and often blatantly, to his ultimate conclusion—that the Russian government sanctioned the bombing of the building and actually planned a similar "scare" attack in the city of Riazan. Every viewpoint in the film Tania asks her lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin: "Are you not afraid? By persisting in your investigations you are putting your own life on the line?" "I have a cause and I believe it is just," answers Trepashkin. "Even my own former colleagues from the FSB will testify that I've never deceived or betrayed anyone. So I am at peace with myself." These former colleagues later arrested Trepashkin in October of 2002 on the charge of illegal firearms possession for a gun that Trepashkin claims the FSB planted in his car. He was found guilty in the Moscow District Military court for illegal ammunition possession and for disclosing classified information without elements of treason, and was subsequently sentenced to four years in a non-prison penal settlement. When Trepashkin was arrested, Nekrasov made another documentary compiled from interviews the two did together; the master copy of this film was stolen from Nekrasov's briefcase. Disbelief not only details the effects of terrorism across the nation, but tells the story of Tania's personal quest to define her relationship to her native country. For her there are two Russias: the Russia before 8 September 1999 that exists only in her heart, and the present-day Russia that may have had a role in the death of her mother. She is in a state of disbelief as she claims: "I would never believe people could do such a thing." When she visits the Dakhkilgovs, a Chechen couple accused of being involved in the bombing, she learns how deep the racism cuts through her country. It seems that the only protagonist not subsumed with horror and disbelief about the events and the current state of the nation is Sasha. The film's shocking images and strong emotions are juxtaposed with his natural, childish folly. Nevertheless, even with his American passport, Sasha is just as much a part of the events of 19 Gyrianova Ul. despite his unawareness of their consequences. |
|
Andrei Nekrasov |
|
Filmography 1989 - Raising the Curtain, TV documentary |