Chukotka Gold

In recent months the media (including Russian Life) have been awash in discussions of the controversial film Leviathan, which takes place along Russia’s northern Murman coast. In April, another film set in the Arctic will hit Russian screens. This one seems aimed at provoking nostalgia rather than controversy.

Set in Chukotka, Alexander Melnikov’s film Territory is based on the popular Soviet-era book of the same name by Oleg Kuvayev and chronicles the Soviet search for gold in that distant region in the 1940s and 1950s. The film was financed by the Natural Resources Ministry.

Ivan Kobilyakov, who worked on the film as a production assistant, caught up with Melnikov and talked with him about the film for Russian Life.

Alexander Vladimirovich, you shot your first film, Novaya Zemlya, about the Arctic. Territory also takes place there. Where does your interest in the Arctic stem from?

I simply love it. That’s how life worked out. Once upon a time, I was studying at the Odessa Hydrometereological Institute and traveled on an expedition to the Arctic. Then I worked at a research station at the mouth of the Lena River. Other interests in the Arctic followed. I keep returning to it. Anyone who has been to the Arctic, even once, will always be drawn to it.

Will the polar theme be continued in your future films?

I might head south... but only in the winter (laughs).

I truly love the North. And I would like to work there some more. I have ideas. But the primary and most important focus is the person. If what you are investigating is a person, then the location is really not that important.

Given today’s computer graphics capabilities, many directors prefer to work in a studio and then “draw in” the backgrounds. Why do you shoot so many scenes in the wild?

While we were shooting, there was this joke going around: if Alexander Melnikov had filmed Avatar, we would have had to fly to Pandora. You know, you can draw a lot, but you can never do better than nature. The question can be put another way: what is better, a skilled craftsman, that is, an artist who can draw, or the colossal power of nature, which you can sometimes capture on film. Of course, nature will always come out on top.

The USSR is a thing of the past, and a lot of people are not familiar with the aura of romance that surrounded Soviet geology. For whom did you make this film?

The Alaskan gold rush is long gone, but we still love to read Jack London.

Our film is actually directed at young people. Many young people, when they see our film, will be introduced to a new world – the huge country in which they live. One of our tasks is to ensure that there is no break between the generations, that our youth can be proud of the things that their fathers and grandfathers achieved.

What do you think, has the nature of the film hero changed in modern filmmaking? What sorts of heroes will there be in Russian films in the future?

It is easy to be a hero in a crisis situation. It is much harder to be a hero in a peaceful profession. We remember the Soviet films of the 1960s. Back then, we made films about people who did not look at all heroic. There was just their job, to which they devoted all their energy. Back then, great, serious and strong heroes were born. Heroes like those in the films Nine Days in One Year [«Девять дней одного года»], I Go Into the Storm [«Иду на грозу»], and others. Through them we sensed and understood that great feats were all around us.

In my opinion, a basic human characteristic is the ability to be give something of yourself. The heroes of Territory, Baklanov, Chinkov and others – they give something of themselves. They help one another, create a team, a collective, a people...

I feel that we are nearing the end of the era of the hero who goes it alone, takes on the entire world, and is unable to live or cooperate with others. Heroes like that are less interesting to me.

What do you feel is in store for the future development of Russian filmmaking? Will it follow Hollywood or does it have another path?

If we take everything that Hollywood has done, then we understand that the Hollywood standard is the world standard for quality. There is no need to avoid Hollywood standards. We simply need to learn to do something unexpected.

“Unexpected” in what sense? It’s not a matter of experiments, but a question of focus: what do you focus on? If it’s the human soul, that’s one thing. But if you attempt to convince someone that he should first and foremost worry about his body, about his material well-being, that’s something else entirely.

The worldwide experience in art, including filmmaking, shows that the best things are about love, the soul, and virtue. My sense is this: the world needs Russian cinema. Rather intense processes are now underway in the world. Humankind needs to overcome its desire for revenge, war, destruction and obliteration. Film, including Russian film, has a very large role to play in this. What should film be about? We need to think.

Today, for our people and our culture, despite economic difficulties, the situation is far more interesting and promising then it was in the past. We are starting to think about what can unite us. And, in that regard, I feel that serious works will soon start appearing in Russian filmmaking. I feel that a time has come for big stories, big films that will speak of Russia with pride befitting the power of our country and our history.

It is unavoidable that new, younger kids will come along for whom it will be shameful, embarrassing, and even boring to explore their history, their people, only through their bad sides. They will begin to look for something else. They want to live a normal, real life. To write real music, songs, books, poems.

The era, after all, determines quite a lot. RL

Alexander Melnikov