Образы несвободы в фильмах современных кавказских режиссеров

Abstract

The article is devoted to the films of young Caucasian directors who graduated from Alexander Sokurov studio at Kabardino-Balkarian State University (Nalchik). The author studies the artistic features of the films Closeness (director Kantemir Balagov), Unclenching the Fists (director Kira Kovalenko), and Deep Rivers (director Vladimir Bitokov). The way the traumatic experiences from the past and problems of the present are reflected in the art field becomes the subject of the research. The article analyses the historical and cultural contexts within the framework of the artistic narrative, and the genre specifics of the modern directors’ works. The purpose of the study is to reveal the lack-of-freedom images in the feature films, as well as their genre specifics. The author notes that realism prevails in the films but the directors also boldly turn to naturalism and the grotesque. The novelty of the study consists in the author’s consideration of cinema as a way for artistic understanding of the traumatic experience of the Caucasian people, which presents the real historical events through the analysis of the personal experience of the characters in the narrative. The directors depict modern times, but the outcomes are tightly linked with the past, which actualizes the discussion about the “public history”. Historical memory seems to be woven into the narrative and is determined by the context, dialogues and visual imagery. The directors turn to historical material but masterfully combine the documentary and the fiction in the artistic space. The continuity of the literary tradition in depicting the Caucasus as a separate world with its own values and worldview is emphasized. The author comes to the conclusion that experiencing the lack of freedom is the main state of individual characters and society in the analysed films. The state of being caught between the old patriarchal world, where life is unbearable, and the new one, which is full of uncertainty, results in denial, rebellion or escape.