Improvised War Smells in Gori

Tea Tedliashvili, Gori

Everybody in Gori is talking about the film, which is being filmed by Hollywood stars about the war last year. The city looks like a battle field and it impacts people’s psychology one year after the war. People go to work by indirect roads. Tanks are moving in the city centre, helicopters are flying in the sky, explosions are heard from time to time, and gunfire and the moaning of “dying” actors are heard. Mothers who lost their sons are crying, schooling has stopped in Gori Public School N 3. A house is burning here and a tire is burning there ...Although it is improvised the war really smells in Gori.

If war really breaks out nobody will be able to know if it is a film or reality. Residents of Gori are surprised because the new asphalt was damaged during filming. People say the roads were not damaged that much even during the war last year. There are the marks of tanks’ caterpillar treads on the asphalt in central streets. Representatives of the film crew are burning so many tires a day that the city will be as polluted as it was during the war.

Many people are glad to see Hollywood film stars in the city, though others get irritated by it. “If we burn a tire in the town, we will be fined; however these people burn the entire city and nobody protest it,” say people in the street. We also started to inquire about the situation

The Hollywood film crew has not signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The public relation office of the Ministry reported to us that the film crew had to have an agreement with the local department of the Ministry.

We got in touch with Archil Sabiashvili, the head of the regional department of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. He said they had not signed any agreement with the film crew. Sabiashvili added they should have signed the agreement with the central office of the Ministry.

Nino Kituashvili, representative of the public relations office of the Ministry, stated in her interview with us that nobody has applied to them and consequently, the Ministry has not issued any permission.

“We could not issue permission on burning of tires and cars and on explosions; it is prohibited by the law and similar activity shall be fined. If we see that a person is burning a tire somewhere s/he will be fined. A person shall be fined for burning dry leaves too. Thus, our ministry has not issued permission,” said Kituashvili who was informed by Archil Sabiashvili that the Hollywood film-crew had finished their activities in Gori and it had lasted only for two days. In fact the film-crew has not finished filming. The town has been in smoke for four days.

“They are earning money and we are tortured here,” “Why are the roads blocked?” “One boy was lying here, and a girl was lying there and a car was burning three meters away.” Every person can hear similar remarks in the center of Gori.

The film-crew is working in the center of Gori in front of the administrative building. This is a key place for Gori so such activities hinder traffic in town. People are walking in the street.

People cannot enter the administrative building; not only the local people cannot enter the building but even employees of the district administration cannot enter their office. This problem is getting more acute for the residents of villages who pay money to get to Gori but cannot do their job because they cannot enter the administrative building.

“One year has passed since the August war. Filming of such scenes impacts the local residents negatively because the scenes are being filmed in a   region which permanently expects explosions. The town is in smoke; tanks are moving in the center; it is possible that this might become a provocation. I am speaking now as a citizen of Georgia and as a journalist. Who can be safe from provocations? If a helicopter of an enemy enters Georgian air illegally during the filming process who will be responsible for the incident? People will not know if it is reality or film?” said a journalist from Gori, Tamar Okruashvili.

“Nobody warned local residents about the planned filming activities. Both the authors of the film and the government should be reprimanded for that. Ecological norms have not been preserved; nobody has apologized for the disturbance of local residents. Traffic is hindered and schooling has ceased; tires are being burned and the entire town is in smoke; people cannot open windows. The main point is that people do not know what will be the profit for Georgia from this film,” said Saba Tsitsikashvili, editor of the newspaper “Kartlis Khma”.

Arina Tavakarashvili, a Gori resident, said: “When a film is made about the war, the film crew usually uses artificial constructions. At least the people who move near the area of the filming are warned about the filming-activities. A short time has passed since the war broke out in Georgia and now the residents of the same town see the war staged. On the one hand it renews the pain of the war, and on the other hand it breeds new fear. If we had been the winning country, the colony of tanks could have caused positive emotions but now we see tanks in the center of the town and it is not acceptable to the country which lost the war. Military vehicles cannot move in the town like that. They should make a film about peace. I think peace is more important and a film about it would be more interesting than recalling the painful and tragic past. Though the film is an imitation of the past, it repeats the past.”

Who will compensate the damage to Gori from the filming? It has not been provided how the expenses for the rehabilitation of damaged roads and pavements will be covered.

We got in touch with Giorgi Imedashvili, a member of the logistic group of the film crew. He replied that the name of the film might be “Georgia”. Then he suggested that we get in touch with his colleague Giorgi Ramishvili. Ramishvili suggested that we get in touch with Papuna Davitaia, deputy chairperson of the parliamentary committee of sport and youth activities.

Davitia did not welcome our questions and tried to find out who gave us his name. “Why are you worrying about this damage?” he asked us in an angry manner. When we explained that we were calling from the Gori office of the Human Rights Center, he started to claim that the film could not damage the environment and then he promised to calculate and compensate the damage.