Salt for Svaneti[a], Part I (silent film)

Parts II & III & details below.

A hint for watching these rather long videos (c. 17 minutes each): let each chapter buffer or load for a while (half or more) before starting to watch it, then it can run without stopping to load the rest.

Salt for Svaneti[a], Part II (silent film)

Part I above, Part III and details below.

Salt for Svaneti[a], Part III (silent film)

Parts I & II above.

I found this gem from 1930, filmed by Mikheil Kalatozov, in the USA on VHS; friends brought it here to Georgia for me. Had it transferred to DVD here. The VHS copy states that only the sound, which is a modern addition to what was originally a silent film, is copyright. So I have removed the sound and am making this nearly hour-long film available to watch in 3 parts on the blog. It's from Ushguli, Europe's highest village; Svan friends of mine say that its depiction of Svan culture as it was then is quite accurate. There's a strong communist propaganda element to the film, of course, as should be expected from a film of its time period. And it's obviously an early film as far as genre goes - how much is documentary, how much drama? The baby death must be staged, along with the avalanche scenes; the horse's death may not be. The funeral itself is likely real, and the terrible July blizzard is a fact, remembered by people I knew.

This is the village to which I will be moving in November 2007 to teach English, learn Svan and really start investigating the Svan people's culture. So, enjoy the first film of Ushguli. (Each part is about 75 MB in size, at least as I uploaded it... some patience may be needed.)

Salt, Ushguli, August 2004

A black-and-white silent film made in Ushguli in 1929 reveals one of the village's biggest weaknesses, a need which the communists exploited in their hurrahed road-building marathon. Salt for Svanetia, it's called, still available on VHS with simultaneous subtitles in Russian and English. Much worth seeing as an introduction to the village as it was at the dawn of its Soviet period. (The music is a much later addition, but never mind.)

Apparently most of the customs the film depicts were real at the time, though Ushguli has modernized somewhat since then and some of the events depicted were acted out. One thing which hasn't changed at all, however, is the lack of local salt. In the film, cows are showing licking each other's mouths in desperation, and also slurping up just-deposited human urine, all for its salt. These scenes of mine are the current vogue among goats: find an abandoned building, and lick its walls every evening for the precious substance.