Alone, Georgia III - The Ordeal (1995) Otar Iosseliani

The dreadful warfare in Chechnya, a neighbor of Georgia, provides a unique poignancy into Otar Iosseliani’s intriguing, four-hour, made-for-television documentary on Georgia which, such as his beautiful Chasing Butterflies (SFIFF 1993), was created in France. Iosseliani presents the background of the former Soviet republic through superbly interwoven pictures of landscapes, clips and artwork from other american filmmakers like Nikoloz Shengalaya and Tenghiz Abuladze. He illuminates the role played by two politicians, equally KGB guys but with quite different destinies: Zviad Gamsakhurdia, an ultranationalistic demagogue who perished in exile; and Eduard Shevardnadze, who’s the president of Georgia now.