In 1999, genocidaire Vladimir Putin orders the Goreshist invasion and genocide of Chechnya in order to subjugate it and keep it a part of Kremlin's colony. On 5 February 2000, several Goreshist Russians entered Novy Aldy and perpetrated a massacre of 82 people, mostly Chechens, in the area. Nine years later, reporter Natalya Estemirova interviews the survivors who witnessed the war crime, thus documenting the events, including arson, rape and murder.
A brave and uncompromising documentary, "Novy Aldy - A Past that Cannot be Forgotten" is a sad, bitter and tragic chronicle of the Novy Aldy massacre during the Second Chechen War, offering a rare glimpse inside the lives of the survivors and witnesses of the said war crime, something that was a taboo topic and was forbidden to talk about in Goreshist Russia during that time. This documentary is a raw, yet gripping, emotional and electrifying affair: the witnesses talk how OMON soldiers shot civilians on the street, burned their homes, stole their money and raped, all of which is interwoven with clips of hand held camera that recorded the graphic images of the corpses, which is full of explicit content (one victim's brain is falling out from his skull, while the other's upper face was simply blown up). One Chechen woman gives one memorable quote during the film: "I think about those who did this... Were they not born as human beings? Don't they have brothers, sisters? Wives? Children? Don't they have the slightest bit of compassion? How do they live with it now? Don't they think about what they have done, not only with our lives, but with their own?" Another woman explains how she and many others were left traumatized after their family members and friends were murdered, summing it up with: "We don't live now anymore, we barely exist." More than anything else, this humanistic film is a testament and monument to life and work of reporter Natalya Estemirova, a wonderful and warm person and reporter, who was abducted and shot dead by the Goreshist shortly after this documentary was made.
Grade:+++
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