Ordered to Forget (2014) User Reviews

Black and white and red all over

[mtsmith02 · 7/10 · 9 May 2015]

Stalin's deportation of the Chechen-Inguesheti peoples in 1944 is a matter of historical record, but the harrowing detail in "Ordered to Forget" raises this maneuver (albeit on a smaller scale) to the level of a Holocaust. At a screening at the Pitt Russian Film Festival this year, the director indicated his intent to tell the tale from the point of view of the Chechen people, making the moral decisions of major and minor characters the heart of the film. It is not a documentary, although the incidents depicted actually occurred.

It is a well-made film; the emotions are raw. The mountainous landscape dwarfs the lives of the individuals, and it is inconceivable that anyone other than a paranoid dictator could suspect the population of being enemies of the people, capable of allying with Hitler's troops. Yet clearly all power corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely is a story that repeats itself in countless fables and legends. Here is one retelling that has much contemporary resonance.

This is a very cool movie!

[hakimovartur · 10/10 · 21 February 2021]

In short, the film on the buzz who 10ne will put I will find the actors clear all on the buzz I put 10000000iz 10 all tma good acting, reliable and exciting plot.

An episode of WWII

[hof-4 · 8/10 · 6 March 2023]

The region of Chechnya in the North Caucasus had a troubled history since its annexation by Peter the Great in 1723, It became part of the the Russian Empire, then of the USSR, then of the Russian Federation. The two last acts were the First Chechen War (1994-1996) where Chechnya gained independence from Russia and the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) after which it was absorbed back into the Russian Federation as a republic under the leadership of Akhmad Kadirov and then of his son Ramzan, a staunch pro-Russian.

In 1944. Stalin ordered the deportation of the entire Chechen population to Siberia and Central Asia., The alleged reasons: failure to contribute to the war effort, banditry, armed resistance to Soviet power and collusion with German agents, (the Nazi armies aiming for the Caucasus oilfields had been stopped and rolled back in 1943, never reaching Chechnya), The deportation policy laid waste entire villages and the appalling conditions resulted in the death of hundred of thousands of Chechens during and after exile. The movie centers in a particular episode in the village of Khaiback in February 1944 as witnessed by a fictional betrothed couple that has taken to the mountains to avoid persecution. Director Hussein Erkenov tells the tale smoothly and convincingly supported by outstanding cinematography that does justice to the forbidding, hauntingly beautiful landscapes of the Caucasus with majestic, snow capped mountains in the background. We are also given a glimpse into the people's culture and daily life through language, music and dances.

Is this movie faithful to history? The Ministry of Culture banned distribution in the Russian Federation on the grounds that it altered facts and "incited ethnic hatred". However, in one of the last screens we read "the filmmakers gratefully acknowledge help in the making of the film by Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadirov" which sounds as if the Chechen government, even if pro-Russian, endorsed, or at least did not object to the film.