A BBC Reporter is yards away from being blasted away by Russian Artillery shell. We see a civilian isn’t as lucky as he is severely hit and bleeding profusely. A few other civilians are bleeding pretty bad too.

Only a few Chechen Rebels left to fend for a “bombed out, fired out” city. Russian tanks speed through the city.

Here is a video of the OMON Security Forces assaulting an area of Grozny in March of 1996. For the first few minutes it is quite uneventful, but the group of soldiers moves closer into danger and the video picks up intensity. The come upon the bodies of dead Russian soldiers in what seems to be a temporary morgue set up by the rebels or Russians themselves? Very confusing. I’d be wary of booby traps but these OMON guys are not.

At the end of the video russian soldier tells how he tried to save the one’s commander under of chechen sniper-fire. The commander was killed. Also, the soldiers are indignant at the lack of reinforcements.
“We couldn’t understand from where or who attacked us. All ours machine guns are jammed due to very intense rate of fire.
We spent almost all ammo for assault rifles. We have lost a commander. Our generals have left us without reinforcements. What the hell is going on here?”

Some remarkable footage from inside Grozny in 1995. The footage is a compilation shot by resistance fighters themselves as they make their way through the capital city of Grozny. The Russians are shelling everything that moves, stands, or sits, not a single building is left untouched. I wonder how many civilians were in those apartment complexes during the shellings, surely they all couldn’t have fled.

You need to know how to speak or read German to understand this documentary. But “Coco: The Dove From Chechnya” offers never before seen footage from Chechnya through the lens of a Chechen civilian. For years Zainap Gashaeva has been documenting what is a daily occurrence in her home country of Chechnya: abduction, torture and murder. What President Putin deems “anti-terrorist action” looks increasingly like genocide. The world stays silent, be it out of helplessness, ignorance or opportunism. We follow Gashaeva, nicknamed Coca – the dove – as she fights for an international tribunal.

This film is based in Chechnya, while far fetched, is one of the only western films that actually has Chechnya as a central them, set, and location. Wesley Snipes is armed and extremely dangerous in THE MARKSMAN, an explosive action-adventure thriller where nothing is what it seems. With Russia on the brink of nuclear annihilation, there’s only one man who can save it: The Marksman (Snipes). An elite U.S. Special Forces operative, he’s been ordered to take out a Chechen nuclear power plant before terrorists set off a live reactor. Infiltrating the heavily-guarded facility, The Marksman indicates the target for an American \missile strike and makes his escape. But when he discovers it’s the missiles and not the terrorists that’ll ignite the device, The Marksman realizes he’s been set up. And so begins a race against time as he attempts to disarm a target whose detonation will trigger the death of thousands and topple two world powers. Not sure if, or why, Chechen terrorists would cause a meltdown of a nuclear reactor in their own country, let alone if a nuclear reactor would ever be built there by the Russians for that very fact, but it is not a bad action flick.

Crying Sun: The Impact of War in the Mountains of Chechnya is another remarkable documentary outlining the horrors, reasons, and results of the protracted Russian military campaign in the Caucasus region of Chechnya.  Crying Sun tells the story of people from the Chechen mountainous village of Zumsoy and their struggle to preserve cultural identity and traditions in spite of the protracted military engagement, kidnappings, and killings by the Russian army.  It features attacks by guerilla fighters, and subsequent displacement and it’s effects on the villagers. By helping to articulate the voices of Zumsoy villagers in the public and policy spheres, the video calls on local and federal authorities to end impunity for human rights violations and to restore policies for the return of mountain villagers to their ancestral homes. In the international advocacy fora, the video will help bring visibility to calls for justice in Chechnya.

Sample of “Crying Sun: The Impact of War in the Mountains of Chechnya”

A song I found about the Spetsnaz in Beslan, with accompanying images of the Beslan seige in 2005. I must admit, I found myself rocking out to this tune a little bit.

A Prayer For Beslan is a remarkable Documentary, very poetic and powerful.  It explores how the Chechen War would overflow into the relatively peaceful Southern Russia town of Beslan, not too far from Chechnya itself.    This documentary presents never before released footage of the terrorist attack in the 43 minute documentary that investigates what really happened.  Key elements include exclusive interviews with eye witnesses, hostages, the Russian negotiator and the Head of the Investigation committee.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com’s standard return policy will apply.

Preview of “A Prayer For Beslan”