Travels both intrepid and trepidatious, around the world and around the block

Chechnya's "Immortal Fortress"

A Review

by Kelly Monaghan

Chechnya is probably not too high up on the "must-see" lists of your average tourist. It's far away and hard to get to. It doesn't have much of a tourist infrastructure. In fact, it doesn't have much of an infrastructure at all these days.

Chechnya, for those who haven't been watching the evening news, is the renegade province of Russia that Moscow's new tsars are busy grinding to dust, even as you read this article. News accounts tend to refer to the Chechen fighters as "rebels," which to me conjurs up images of Che Guevara and Ho Chi Minh. The Chechen conflict, however, is more about ethnicity and national identity than anything so ephemeral as politics.

The Chechen "rebels" are an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically distinct people who have been subjugated by their larger neighbor to the north for hundreds of years. They have been resisting, to a greater or lesser degree, for approximately the same length of time.

So Chechnya is hardly the kind of place most travelers seek out. Dodge Billingsley is the exception. Billingsley is a filmmaker and scholar with a special interest in the ways nationhood is forged in the crucible of armed conflict. Not too long ago he visited Chechnya to see for himself what was going on in this would-be nation. His 52-minute film, "Immortal Fortress," is the result of that visit. I was fortunate enough to catch a screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York recently.

Billingsley's journey to Chechnya was not your typical tourist excursion. He traveled first to Baku in Azerbaijan, itself not exactly a risk-free destination. There he put out the word to his contacts in the multi-faceted political underground that he'd like to visit Chechnya and tell the Chechen story.

Clandestine meetings followed enigmatic phone calls followed aborted rendezvous followed dead ends. The trail led to Dagestan, back to Baku, and then to Tiblisi. His footsteps were dogged by mysterious strangers who turned out to be Chechen operatives assigned to see that he wasn't bumped off before his mission was even begun. Finally, Billingsley and his camera man, Rod Lamborn, were smuggled into Chechnya over the mountains in the dead of night, just like in some techno-thriller spy novel.

Billingsley and Lamborn spent several danger-filled weeks with their Chechen hosts. (Foreigners in Chechnya are regularly kidnapped and held for ransom by a sort of freeform "mafia" that occupies the moral vacuum created by the political chaos in the country.) They left with a quiet and powerful film that eloquently portrays the Chechen point of view.

The tale is told through a series of interviews with Chechen fighters and their leaders, from ordinary guys like Salambek and Ruslan -- who find time to play with the kids in their rural village while calmly recounting blood-curdling tales of battle against the Russians -- to the charismatic leader Shamil Basayev, who was seriously wounded, perhaps even killed, in the latest Russian assault on the capital Grozny.

What stands out most are the faces, beautifully photographed by Lamborn. They range from picturesque elders to movie-star handsome commanders to scary looking fanatics with shaved heads and steel teeth. The story they have to tell, of centuries of struggle, of a rebirth of Islam and national identity, of a life dedicated to never-ending combat against their oppressors, is both chilling and rather inspiring. While the film itself is studiously neutral, its hard not to come out of it rooting for the Chechens.

The film's ironic title comes from a Chechen village which, despite its heroic name, now lies in rubble, a victim of Russia's scorched earth campaign against the nettlesome Chechens who refuse to roll overf anmd play loyal Russian vassals. The film's final image is a young boy playing with an assault weapon. It looks like the Russians will be battling Chechens for as long as there are Chechens to take up arms.

I should note that I am not a completely disinterested observer. I traveled with Dodge and Rod through Uzbekistan, and charming traveling companions they were. After we parted ways back in New York, Chechnya was their next port of call and I spent some time biting my nails while awaiting news of their safe return.

"Immortal Fortress" is one of those rare films that puts current headlines into very real perspective. The portrait of the Chechens, their struggle for independence from Russia, and their "warrior" culture is stark and compelling. Anyone who wishes to understand what is going on in Chechnya and what is at stake throughout the region should seek out this hard-to-find gem. Fortunately, those with an interest in the Chechnya struggle can order the film for a modest $19.95 (less than the cost of one of those thrillers!) directly from Combat Films, Billingsley's production company.

Back To Front Page

Back To Archives

Didn't find what you were looking for? Try a Google search.

IF YOU FIND THIS WEB SITE HELPFUL, PLEASE CONSIDER
PURCHASING OUR BOOKS! THANKS.