Film: Welcome to Chechyna
Starring: Olga Baranova,David Isteev,Maxim Lapunov
Director: David France
Rating: ****1/2
Reviewer: George Sylex
Overview - David France's unsettling and must watch documentary Welcome to Chechyna is enlivened by Masha Gessen's The New Yorker write up Forbidden Letters: The Gay Men Who Fled Chechnya's Purge, opens with an appalling call got by David Isteev, the Crisis Response Coordinator for the Russian LGBT Network. A troubled youthful Chechen lady, alluded to as “Anya” to keep up her obscurity, says that she is being extorted into sex with her uncle. He's taking steps to reveal to her dad, who works for the Chechen government that she's a lesbian, something she accepts he will slaughter her for. It's an upsetting opening, and the film doesn't ease up from that point.
Welcome to Chechnya is punctuated with frightening captured recordings of LGBTQ individuals being assaulted and tormented. In the principal video we see, one of the aggressors can be heard saying “all our issues are a result of people like you.” These aren't confined transphobic episodes, yet in reality part of a state-supported cleanse that originally became obvious in 2017. Gay men are being gathered and kept by Chechen police, constrained into 'turning in' any gay men they're familiar with before being come back to their family members with the guidance that they be slaughtered. A great part of the brutality against lesbians in Chechnya occurs on account of their families, with purported respect killings.
Anya's story is gotten later in the narrative, when France clarifies how troublesome it is for lesbians to be protected. Numerous ladies are battered at home. Since they can't travel alone, there is more serious hazard in getting them out of the nation. The extraction of Anya plays like a thriller, complete with mystery gatherings, interruptions, and even checkpoint passport show. Different stories in, "Welcome to Chechnya” are similarly convincing, for example, a portion committed to Zelim Bakaev, a well known Chechen vocalist who is accepted to have been vanished, tormented, and executed on the grounds that he was gay.
The film's most critical story accounts, "Grisha,” a 30-year-old Russian man who was working in Chechnya when he was captured for being gay. He is being secured by the Russian LGBT Network, and before long reunites with his beau, “Bogdan.” Their love, particularly when they meet at the air terminal, is unmistakable. Be that as it may, their story is confused. Since Grisha was discharged from detainment, his family isn't protected; they all must empty. Also, Grisha boldly consents to record a criminal grievance and talk openly about his torment. During his enthusiastic public interview in Moscow, Grisha unveils his genuine character — Maxim Lapunov — and France uncovers his genuine face.
David France works admirably catching the dread the LGBTQ+ Chechens face during this crackdown. The state of mind in the protected house where these people live ranges from strong to extraordinary. Grisha, Bogdan, and Akhmad — another gay man highlighted in the film look for shelter — each experience fears and questions about acclimating to “another life” that brawl their effectively worn nerves. Conversely, Anya is playing a cat-and-mouse game and is held under lockdown until a host nation is found. She battles with being secluded, even as she is advised to leave the condo just to take out the waste could take her life.
Final Word - Welcome To Chechnya is a frightening encounter, yet additionally an empowering one, definitely catching the astonishing work of LGBT activists in Chechnya. It is an overwhelming narrative chronicling the as yet unfurling circumstances in the republic of Russia where gay men and lesbians have been focused for torment and murder.
One of the most 'Must-See' films you'll see this year!
