Thanks
to Russia and Putin’s expansionist ambitions, this is an interesting year to be
Belarusian. 1986 was also an interesting year to be Belarusian, thanks to the
Soviets and the radiation wafting from their Chernobyl meltdown. As a Belarusian
today, Elena doesn’t think she has much to lose, so instead of looking for
opportunities in her own nation, she seeks them in the Chernobyl Exclusion
Zone. She might just find her destiny there, for better or worse, in Lothar
Herzog’s 1986, which had its American premiere at this year’s Slamdance Film Festival.
These
days, time spent in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is no longer necessarily fatal—just
ask the wolves. However, you are still warned not to ingest anything originating
there. Elena will do so anyway, because she is a millennial. However, she has a
right to be bitter. Despite the phony Lukashenko propaganda her economics professor
spouts in class, the economy is stagnant. Elena would like to pay-off her father’s
tax-debt to get him out of jail, but $30,000 is a prohibitive sum to raise.
Her
only chance is by taking over his former gig smuggling salvaged scrap metal out
of the Exclusion Zone. Frankly, she rather likes it there, because she can visit
her grandmother’s house. It also forces her to take a break from her unhealthy
relationship with her unfaithful boyfriend Viktor.
The
stakes are serious for Elena, but plot is not the film’s top priority. Rather,
Herzog is more concerned with conveying a sense of place (that being the
Exclusion Zone) and exploring the national Belarusian malaise. Although he
wisely does not overplay the metaphor, we can pick up on Herzog’s analogy
comparing the corruption permeating contemporary Belarusian society to the
radiation that devastated Chernobyl.
Herzog
and cinematographer Philipp Baben der Erde frame some vividly striking imagery.
As a result, Elena’s trips into the Zone are often hypnotic, creating an almost
immersive cinematic experience. This is one of the few examples of slow-ish
cinema that might have gained something from 3D. Still, its ambiguous nature will
certainly limit its popular audience.
Darina
Mureeva is absolutely arresting as Elena. She definitely withstands Herzog’s
intimate close-ups and says as much with facial expressions and body language
as she does with the terse dialogue. As Viktor, Evgeniy Sangadzhiev has
credible Lothario charm to be the object of Elena’s love and hate. They are
good in the film, but don’t come to it expecting a conventional relationship
drama.
With
Putin openly exploring a takeover of Belarus, this is a good time for Belarus
to address the question of what it means to be Belarusian—while they still can.
Even though Herzog is German, 1986 is still definitely part of that discussion. It is a carefully crafted
film, but even at a relatively succinct 77 minutes, it still can have a lulling
effect on viewers. Recommended for fans of meditative feel-like-you’re-there-style
films, 1986 screens again this Thursday (1/30), as part of Slamdance
2020.
