Rozpad discussion at HOME. From left to right: Professor Olya Onuch, Dr Sara Nesteruk, Mrs Olia Fedechko. Photography: Stefan Okopskyj.
The notes below are from the post-screening discussion of Rozpad at HOME on Wednesday 17 June.
Rozpad (1990) is full of symbolism. To relate to my own work on the Holodomor, one early narrative focuses on soil. The main character returns from a holiday in Greece and forgets to bring back with him some soil from his father’s ancestral homeland. Instead he goes to a nearby building yard and lies to his father about the origin of the earth. Soil and earth are important symbols in Ukrainian culture. In part because of the Holodomor, the attachment and potency of the land, the earth and the fertility and history of farming. Chornozem (black soil) which is strong, fertile land represents a lot in Ukrainian history and culture. In this particular situation the physical soil represents a deceit which runs through the entirety of the film. The main character lies to his father. It is a small lie about something very significant and meaningful. The main character in turn is being lied to by his partner who is almost casually having an affair with a school friend. These intimate deceits exist throughout the whole social network in the film. Nameless government officials minimise the impact of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant accident. At points officials deny completely anything happened. This, as we know now is true to the reality of the Communist government response after the accident at the nuclear power plant.
Deceit and deception highlight the role of arts and culture. Why art is important, even critical throughout history in Ukraine and other places. Art, culture, poetry, literature, film, visual arts and culture can make visible stories and meanings which otherwise can be lost to time. The invisible stories or narratives that have been hidden, oppressed or obscured from view can feature in a physical, tangible articulation within arts and culture.
Rozpad opens with the main character on a train, sharing a small carriage with an older man. Reflecting the decay or disintegration of the film, this older man is physically decaying. His teeth are in a glass in the carriage. The train abruptly comes to a stop because there is no more track. In literature and film the train is one of the great symbols of modernism. Representative of future, progress, technology, driving change, Rozpad takes the metaphor and brings modernism to a halt. Nuclear power is part of the modernist narrative. The great future connected to the Soviet experiment and other visual metaphors in the film. There are some glorious shots of modernist architecture in Prypyat shown from aerial view which have been abandoned. It is possible to argue the film represents a turning point. The end of the modernist ideal and the halt of the train at the start of the film represents the end of modernity in a broader social context.
Later in the film two young lovers who are about to get married disappear into the forest around Prypyat. The forests then and now have become symbols of the nuclear accident and are important in the region. One of the great Ukrainian poets and authors Lesia Ukrainka wrote The Forest Song which reflects the importance of the forest as a metaphor. In Rozpad the forest is a location for the characters’ innocence, naivety and love. Almost biblical. The two main characters disappear into the forest to be alone with each other. There are points where the shots are almost identical to shots in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a classic Ukrainian film. In Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors the two main characters play in the forest as children. After the female dies the main character, Ivan, calls to his lover in a scene that is almost identical in Rozpad where the man shouts to his lover through the trees. The difference here, in Rozpad, is the forest, rather than a symbol of nature, all that is natural and naivety, is toxic. The animals are dead. In the background people wearing hazmat suits are putting up radioactive signs. A reference to previous Ukrainian film highlights the toxicity and invisible decay and danger in the natural environment.
The event was fantastic. A really brilliant discussion with Professor Olya Onuch, one of the founders of BASU and on the executive committee and Professor of Comparative and Ukrainian Politics at the University of Manchester. The discussion was with myself and Olia Fedechko from the Organisation of Ukrainian Women in Manchester who spoke about Ukrainian communities in Manchester and the British responses to Chornobyl after the accident. A huge thank you to everybody involved in making the screening a success. To the team at HOME, the funders – ENGAGE, Stefan for photography, the Dovzhenko Film Studios and Centre, Vera from Sunflower Manchester, BASU and all of the individuals who contributed to marketing, publicity, assistance and support on the day. I would love to do more of these screenings.