Memory (2025)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 98 minuten
Country:
France / Netherlands
Directed by: Vladlena Sandu
Stars: Selima Agamirzaeva, Vladlena Sandu and Amina Taisumova
IMDb score:
7,1 (142)
Releasedate: 27 August 2025
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Memory plot
Six-year-old Vladlena moves from Crimea to Grozny after her parents' divorce, unaware that war will soon destroy her childhood. As the Soviet Union collapses, the Chechen Republic disintegrates. Her Russian-speaking friends flee, while deported Chechens return and reclaim their homeland. Tensions escalate, and armed conflict erupts. Violence ravages the city—neighbors are murdered, her family is attacked, and Grozny becomes a battlefield. After four years of war, her mother is seriously injured, and an armed attack forces Vladlena to flee, leaving her displaced within Russia.
Reviews & comments
De filosoof
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- 2573 messages
- 1762 votes
Sandu experienced the Chechen War as a child, and through this documentary, she recalls memories from that time: the film is, as it were, a photo album that she flips through and provides commentary on. It is not entirely clear what is happening 'politically,' but she consciously chooses the perspective of herself as a child, sometimes supplemented by knowledge of what would happen later. Similarly, the images bear witness to a childlike fantasy on the one hand, while being highly artistic on the other: they are reminiscent of surrealist art, even though they do not seem to express the subconscious so much. Her war experiences are poignant and the images are poetic and beautiful, but in terms of content, the film is nothing more than a visually stunning photo album of memories. The documentary promises to be an attempt to understand the cycle of violence, but this does not really materialize: the documentary ends not with an answer, but merely with an indictment of war in general.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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