News of this project broke in winter, though shootings started only this summer. The film director, Michale Boganim, has been acquainted with Ukraine for years now, as it was at Kyiv’s Molodist Festival in 2002 that she made a debut with a short film, and also shot her Ukrainian emigre drama Odesa… Odesa! on location in 2007.
The Land of Oblivion is Boganim’s first full-length motion picture. The story is about a woman, a resident of Prypiat, whose life is shattered one morning, after an explosion at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChAES). The role is played by the Ukrainian actor and model, Olha Kurylenko, who made her name after acting as James Bond’s partner in the latest 007 production, Quantum of Solace.
Last Saturday, Olha Kurylenko, Michale Boganim, and the French producer, Laetitia Gonzalez, met with Ukrainian journalists.
Gonzales: “Thank you all for being here. Chornobyl is an extremely sensitive, arresting topic, so it didn’t take us long to decide on [the] shooting [site] last year. We immediately chose Olha for the leading part. After that we started looking for money. We found financing in France first, then elsewhere. Then we came to Ukraine looking for money. We managed to do this thanks to Olha, who is taking part in our project.”
Kurylenko: “I’m happy to be part of this project here in Ukraine. This is the first time for me, as I never took part in on location shootings in my country. After all, I was born here and this is the first motion picture with a Russian and Ukrainian soundtrack. Previously it was mostly French, so this is my debut of sorts.”
Boganim: “It took me long to write the script. I’d studied lots of documents, including interviews with eyewitnesses in Belarus and Ukraine. Before I started on the script, I’d spent quite some time in the Exclusion Zone, collecting eyewitness accounts. My script is based on actual events. The Chornobyl disaster is presented as seen from three angles. First, the hero, impersonated by Olha Kurylenko, with her view of the tragedy. There are two other important characters, each with his own concept of what came to pass. I wanted to juxtapose these different views. It’s a long story that deals with the nuclear disaster and current realities [decades after]. The main hero is a young woman by the name of Anna, and it’s a metaphorical female image that represents Ukraine, a country which is [politically] divided and has a long and painful history.”
Ms. Boganim, there is always a conflict at the core of a plot. What about The Land of Oblivion?
oganim: “With regard to conflict, this film doesn’t follow a classical scenario; it’s not like an Old Greek tragedy. There is no conflict between the characters. I’d say that this conflict emerges with regard to truth, real knowledge about something. One character knows something, another one doesn’t. There is a quest for truth, an attitude to this truth. Also, I wanted to make a blockbuster, considering that Chornobyl is drama incarnate. I wanted to portray people, the way they acted and felt under the circumstances that were a priori dramatic. This movie is about people who survived a disaster. There are lots of documentaries about Chornobyl in Europe. What’s left off screen are human feelings, personal experiences of the Chornobyl survivors. I wanted to show how this disaster affected human lives.”
Olha, how did you impersonate your character? What was the key idea?
Kurylenko: “I’m a Ukrainian woman in this movie and the first thing Michale told me was, ‘You’ll have to become a Ukrainian woman again. You’ll have to work hard, so go back and live there.’ I replied I’d spent fifteen years in Ukraine, a fact that shouldn’t be overlooked, and that I clearly remembered everything; that this impersonation wouldn’t be too difficult, for I did belong to Ukraine. On the other hand, my Anna isn’t like me. She is ten years my senior and this is another difficulty, for people tend to act differently at this age. Of course, I will be made up to look my character’s age and my features will bear marks of the Chornobyl disaster. I have to work hard to develop Anna’s mentality, considering that the disaster affected it in the first place — as was the case with so many people. I have to work on gestures, posture, facial expressions, because mine are totally different. Among other things, I had to have my lips fixed to suit the character and work out Anna’s tic. I’ve watched lots of documentaries about Chornobyl, heard rescue team members’ accounts (many of whom are no longer among the living). Toward the end of the film they disappear and we hear that they died the following week, along with the gruesome details. Watching an eyewitness, hearing his/her account, knowing that this person has long since been dead, leaves the audience very impressed. There are also scenes with children succumbing to radiation sickness and their stories about the disaster and what happened afterward. I had to do a lot to prepare for this film psychologically, as never before. My character has very strong feelings, so I have to work hard on every personification aspect.”
How long did you stay in the Exclusion Zone? Where else did you have on-location shootings?
Boganim: “We did on-location shootings only where we were allowed by the Exclusion Zone authorities. Of course, we had a tight schedule and followed all the precaution procedures. We’re doing shootings in a number of localities in Ukraine, particularly in Odesa.”
What about the Ukrainian share in the project’s budget?
Gonzales: “Our budget amounts to some four million euros, including almost a million contributed by the Ukrainian side. This is a joint Polish-German-French-Ukrainian project. Olha took to it instantly and became a co-producer.”
What security measures were taken when shooting on site?
Kurylenko: “Before being admitted to the Exclusion Zone, we underwent medical examinations. We also had an expert present at all times on the shooting site. He gave me detailed explanations, showing me the actual radiation level. He told the rest of the crew that the situation was very different from that 25 years back. We worked outdoors and observed all hygiene rules, washing our clothes after returning home. The crew’s wardrobe included disposable costumes. I kept using Anna’s, of course.”
How many Ukrainians will actually play?
Boganim: “Most of the cast is from Ukraine. There is also a French actor, and several Russian actors. The first part of the film takes place under the Soviets, so the soundtrack is mostly Russian. The second part is in independent Ukraine, so you mostly hear Ukrainian.”
There have been lots of films made about the Chornobyl disaster. What makes your production different?
Boganim: “I didn’t want another documentary, however backed by scholarly comments, about Chornobyl and its consequences. I wanted a motion picture about people and their feelings. I must say that there aren’t many movies on this theme, mostly just documentaries. And the disaster is invisible in my film. There isn’t any tangible footage. The emphasis is on human destinies, people who fell prey to the nuclear power unit’s explosion, something little, if at all, known in Europe.”
The Land of Oblivion is expected to premiere in Ukraine on April 26, 2011.
