I will not stop loving Yesenin’s poetry, but I don’t understand «russkij mir». Conversation with director Laima Žurgin / Article

Žurgina once made the film “These are my sons too” (1990). It is a story about the boys who died in the Soviet army, mothers in Russia, Latvia and Ukraine tell about the tragic fate of their sons in the film. The idea for the film came from the director’s personal experience, because at that time her son was of conscription age, so at home you could often hear the conversations of peers in which all kinds of horror stories heard from those who had already served in the army were discussed.

“And it seemed so absurd to me that a large country, which seems to be playing around with the size, strength, past and so on of the army all the time, that such chaos reigns there, that the laws of the criminal world, extra-legal relations reign there to a large extent,” said Jurgina.

At that time, she felt that it was necessary to cover a wider region than just Latvia, so she started collecting information in Russia and Ukraine as well, visiting schools where even several young people died in the army during peacetime in one graduating class.

“And then there were mostly Ukrainians who had died. Looking back now, I assume that these were also such international conflicts, because those cases of death were different, there were also [gadījumi]that some warehouses exploded and so on, but most of them were when dissenters were beaten to death,” said the director.

Connecting this poignant story with the current situation, Jurgina admitted that she thought Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was madness. Also, she did not hide that the support of Russian personalities for this seemed strange. The director admitted that she studied with the Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov at one time, and is also familiar with the ballet dancers Andri and Ilzi Liepa, who support the war in the public space.

“I know a lot about these people, and I can’t understand who bombed them,” said Jurgina.

“I don’t even know if they look at the reality at all, they are guided by some kind of invented ideology. Mikhalkov has always emphasized that he represents the Russian nobility, that Russia has its own values. I think he is a talented person, and power always attracts talented people . It keeps me busy all the time – what has led these all-talented people to such a historical disgrace?” she reasoned.

“I don’t know what this Russian ‘russkij mir’ means,” Jurgina continued.

“I’ve been hearing claims that the old Europe is tired, degenerate and immoral, that the Russian nation represents bright souls and something like that. Then I thought – where else have I heard that? I remember movies about Islamic terrorists from Syria who claims about the same,” she pointed out.

Zhurgina, who has been to many places in Russia, also pointed out that Russia is very diverse and different, and she says that another futurological speculation or vision of the future is that Russia can be divided, because there are internal contradictions and historically formed very a colorful scene.

At the same time, she admitted that she also sees too much hatred in the people of Latvia, but this should not be allowed: “I started watching Facebook, which I use, and the negative energy of that hate, I’m talking about our Latvian audience, is so unpleasant in the comments. Such a very active hatred, it’s hard to even say [par ko]maybe against Russia in general, which also doesn’t seem right to me, because

I will not stop loving Yesenin’s poetry or Tarkovsky’s films just because politicians think it is necessary to isolate all Russian culture – no.”

She pointed out that Latvians should not remain a small, hostile and sullen nation, but be higher, spiritually superior, “not to let hatred into the soul”. Jurgina also stated that she does not support that, for example, the Victory Park monument would be blown up, in her opinion, it should be moved away to Salaspils: “I always think with horror how it can come to the point of burning books or the entire holocaust, or deportation to Siberia – it’s the same evil, only with a relevant ideology, and that’s how, under certain circumstances, those historical moments arise, for which the whole humanity is ashamed afterwards.”

“Let’s be careful with our spiritual world,” Jurgina called.

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