Melting Souls (2018) - full transcript

Melting souls

We have the feeling of living
in a post-nuclear world.

An isolated world.

There are roads,
but they don't
lead anywhere

and you are really aware of it

The city seems like a mirage.

a city of science fiction.

We also call it a "vortex town"
because it sucks people in.

It was a wasteland, it was just tundra.

We were very scared.

There was nothing at all here.



Old women used to tell me:

“Don’t worry, you won't
last more than a month.

You will die. it is
impossible to live here."

The metal is at the heart of it all.

We say that God distributed the world’s natural resources all around the world.

and when He was tired of working He
dumped everything that was left in Norilsk.

Between us we joke that we produce sweat.

What else?
Little stones...

The factory needs' lots of stones...

I have made several escape
attempts from Norilsk, as we say here.

But every time I come back...

I came back to sell my apartment.

But instead, I had a son!

What I'm worried about most
these days is my son's childhood.



I want him to acquire the mentality the psyche of a normal human being

who understands the real world

not the one we have here.

Because here, it is an unforgiving place.

An extreme place.

Who's there?

Hello! Come in!

Hi, I'm Tatiana, -Kirill, nice to meet you!

- So you want to move? -Yes.

It’s our second attempt. We'd like to sell the apartment" You want to live downtown 11 or go to the 'continent’?

On the continent -All right.

We are on the last floor?
It is the fourth, not the last one.

I know there are a lot
of offers on the market...

It's possible to sell it,
everything depends on price.

The real estate market
is tied to the factory.

When there are layoffs, the offers go up

and the real estate prices fall.

About the furniture.
it will depend on the circumstances.

And the offer price.
Yes. of course.

We'll stay in touch by phone.

And keep me updated if
you decide to lower the price.

If we change the price
at all, it will be to raise it!

Sure, I understand, -Do you think prices...

will rise soon? Is it possible?

No. there won't be any big changes.
Except lower prices.

Where do you think you'll move to?

We are thinking of Ivanovo or
Perm. Or maybe the Krasnodar region.

We have family ties there.

It is warm there, Every resident of
Norilsk leaves for a warmer place.

Very few people stay in Siberia.

Everyone prefers Moscow.
Saint Petersburg. Sochi or Krasnodar.

Well, good luck! Thanks for
meeting with me. we'll stay in touch.

Have a good trip home!

Norilsk is like an island.

It is an island because
there is no overland route

leading to the 'continent'.

There is only plane or boat.

Here, we live behind closed doors.

We could see this city as an island,
made up of many gears.

Everyone who lives in this territory

is linked in one way or another.

They are like pinion gears,
all alike.

The mechanism is part of every interaction

and beats within each of us.

Industrial waste water
Swimming strictly prohibited

We arrived here
by plane on November 1.

When we got off.

we were scared,
because it was nighttime

and very cold,
because of a snowstorm.

This welcome to Norilsk scared us.

In the past, people came
to Norilsk to make money.

We wanted something more for ourselves.

We weren't happy enough.

When you arrive here, you have to adapt.

At the beginning, you feel nostalgic,
but you stay faithful to your plan.

You tell yourself:
I am going to leave here soon."

But then you put down roots.

We persevere.

Norilsk inhabitants are very tough.

Take off for the city of your dreams! Apartments for sale in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg

Stalin didn't plan for a city here.

What he wanted was a gulag
and nickel for the front, for tanks.

That is why we started
to procedure nickel 1942.

I walk throughout the city and imagine that all these walls were built by hand when it was -50 Celsius outside.

I shudder to think about it.

They went by foot to work,
no matter what the weather.

You can't even imagine this "cosmic” cold,

Where could they escape to?

They wouldn't even try to catch them.

If there was a prison break.

after four stormy days, the guards
would make rounds with their dogs

to collect the bodies

before they were devoured
by wolves or arctic foxes.

The city was built on bones.

But we don't tell this to the children.

To associate the city with the gulag,

if is not common in Norilsk.

We prefer to say that we are the northernmost arctic city, the most unique city.

the source of precious metals. That's it.

There was barbed wire everywhere
and rifles pointed at us.

The number they gave me
in the camp was X401.

I was brought to Norilsk
guilty of violating article 58.

I wrote a letter to a friend which said: "Marussia, don't cry. The sun will rise for us too.”

And the sun in Norilsk has
risen for me for 60 years.

That's it.

And what was our fault?
Why?

Who did I hurt ?

What did I do?

Everything that I lived through.
I feel it too strongly here.

in my heart, it is very painful.

We are absolutely innocent.

If you had known
all the prisoners in our camp.

only a few had really committed a crime

against the Soviet regime.

You would have had a
hard time finding them.

He was the head of the prison guards who would escort the prisoners to bring them to and from work.

Later, the day that I was liberated,
he came to look for me.

He accompanied me to the exit.

He found a small independent room for me.

I moved into this building

And little by little...

we became close and
I married him.

Progressively the prisoners
were rehabilitated.

Some left, others stayed.

And construction started,
intensively, on a big scale.

We were building a city.

Here are the three
founding pillars of Norilsk.

To the right. Mount Schmidt,
which has lots of coal.

There is enough for 200 years,
the coal seams are up to 35 meters deep.

In the middle. Mount Rudnaya,
where we find the richest mines.

To the left Mount Gudchykha,
where we extract building materials.

the limestone for cement-making
and for metallurgy.

So here are the three key mountains. the three "giants" which fueled Norilsk's growth.

In 1956. the gulag in Norilsk closed

and the absence of
prisoners was strongly felt.

The old prisoner camps were overhauled

and turned into temporary, worker housing.

There is no sense in keeping all that.

On the contrary, we should tear it all down
to stop thinking about the past.

I don't like that man wages war on nature

in such a brutal way.

This place could be a paradise

there were no factories and pollution.

There is something magical in the mine.

But I don't notice it anymore.

I got lost one time.

I wasn't by myself, there were two of us.

But I wasn't scared.
And we did not panic.

Even though the tunnels are extremely long,
you always run into people.

If you know how to go North or South,

which way the ducts blow.

Over time, you start to learn.

They draw you a map.
You go by, you see, you remember.

In my head I am always thinking about
new moves.

That is why I work there.

I am always waiting for the moment
when I can take off.

We are stronger than nature.

We are warriors.

Go walk down Lenin Avenue
in the middle of Winter!

You have to hold on the walls
with your fingernails.

Women dig in with their heels
to avoid being swept away by the wind.

The city is not made for the weak.

The building where I work
is at the foot of a mountain.

I hear the wind howling,
it makes me so scared

think I will never go out again.

Living here is dangerous.

If we can overcome all of this,
we reach to a new level,

we become stronger,
more confident.

Cities like ours,

and then,

they forge strong personalities.

The city has absorbed me.

It gives me energy.

It is my place of strength.

It is like a magnet.

When I am alone

to compose my melodies,

through vibrations

I express sad feelings in minor tones,

which are easy to find here.

It is a grayish-blue music.

or sometimes it has the
color of the northern lights.

This land can protect
those who can adapt to it.

Electronic signals,
random thoughts

\We were killed, we were used up

Wearing these masks, mouths open

We keep running in circles and we don't remember our dreams

The city will swallow you whole We are drenched to the bone

We believe, we start fresh, without looking at the path Don't give up your dream

in the embrace of frozen ground

It's not worth regretting it

They will force you to keep quiet

Where there are no faces
there aren't any phrases

Who, who but us?

The city will swallow you whole

We are drenched to the bone

We believe we start fresh,
without looking at the path

Don't give up your dream

in the embrace of frozen ground

Why did they come here?
I don't really know.

they were looking for a better life.

Why don't I leave?

I, too, am waiting for a better life.

On one hand, we have this need to escape.

But on the other hand,
something is keeping us here.

To explore uncharted territories, why not?

That is human nature to seek out new things.

When the fatherland gives an order,

you have to execute it.

Of course, we were all enthusiastic.

Like everyone,
I was a member of the Party.

The idea of communism
was an absolute ideal.

Our patriotic feelings

helped us
to overcome all the challenges.

And challenges
weren't hard to come by in Norilsk!

I was born here, I didn’t choose this city.
The city chose me.

My grandparents came here

when the city was under construction.

It was after the second world war,
when people still had ideals.

They arrived in the North as pioneers.

My grandparents. I can understand them.

At that time, the country was
progressing by leaps and bounds.

If I was alive then,
I would have done exactly the same.

A sword swing to your face!

That's how life is, in Norilsk.

It is nine months of Winter per year.

You know that in Spring and Fall,

you have to eat many more vitamins
than in Summer and Winter.

If not, at the beginning of Winter your body will start to complain about the polar night, the absence of sun...

In Winter, it is always dark.

It doesn't bring only disadvantages.

it creates an intimate atmosphere.

It is always warm inside.

Everyone complains about feeling sleepy: “We are tired, it is polar night."

Me, I feel perfectly at ease.

It is pretty,

Street lamps light up Lenin avenue.

A storm blows through,
which has its charm.

In Winter, you become slower.

Everything happens at a slower pace.

Everything is calmer.

In Winter, we hibernate.

When daylight starts to rise up,

we look at each other
as if it were the first time.

There is a lot of emotion, a lot of joy.

The city wakes up in Spring.

How do you feel?

This morning I woke up at 7 a.m.

I couldn't sleep because
I was feeling so nervous.

I am still a little nervous,
but not as much.

I am between being nervous and

waiting to enjoy this day.

to delight in it.

We are going to give you a nice makeover
and a beautiful haircut.

And you are going to feel better.

Yes, that is true,

Him, he wants to leave.
I am not really into it right now.

It would be good to go somewhere else,
but not right away.

What is keeping you in Norilsk?

Here, we have everything we need:
work, housing...

You have built your own world here?

Yes, all of our friends are here.

Of course, it will be hard to say goodbye
to this city.

But this day will come.

Everyone here dreams of leaving one day.

But to leave, you have to know where to.

You have to lay the ground work for that,
to work and make money.

Here it is. Do you want me to straighten
on the top or to separate the strands?

I'd prefer the strands, yes, the strands.

So that it's the same style throughout,

in freedom.

Why did your parents choose to come here?

My mother had family here.

Her relatives helped
her to find an apartment.

Before, it was profitable
to live and work in Norilsk.

Its polar location gave advantages.

There was a good infrastructure.

Yes, I know that back then,
we grew vegetables here, in greenhouses.

The city was closed off...

There were even some farms...

Today, it is all gone.

I remember, when I was a child,
my father took me to the zoo.

Later, all the animals
perished because of the cold.

Little by little, it was
reduced to nothing.

- Today, if I want to go to the zoo.
I go to the pet store.

I walk around there, I take photos
and it is like I have escaped from here.

I walk around there. I take photos
and it is like I have escaped from here.

Someone must have ordered the sun

as a wedding gift for you.

I was feeling nervous.

I had looked at the weather
forecast for the month of March.

and it was showing -27 Celsius.

And then, all of a sudden,
the weather changed.

The snow started to melt.

Back in the day, I remember,
things were really good here.

When the city was small and closed-off,

everyone lived like one big family.

It was a good time.

Yes. It was our own world.

It is exactly what I wanted.

Is it possible to fix a little bit more
so that my hairdo holds with the wind?

These little hairs here?
Yes.

Norilsk Nickel
Guarantee of stability

I grew up during the Soviet Union.

You have to admit that things were
well done in that era.

there was a unifying idea.

The city was better provisioned.
life was better, we were building a lot.

There were multiple cultural centers.

What other polar city had
a theater or swimming pools?

We city population
reached 300.000 inhabitants.

Everything was under
control of Norilsk Nickel.

The Soviet economy leaned on three pillars:
the cinema, vodka and the Norilsk factory.

They were the industries
that generated the most profits.

People wanted a good life.

You had to feed them, clothe them and
distract them throughout the whole Winter.

Everyone needed a
television, a refrigerator...

I grew up with the books of Jack London,
Mayne Reid, Fenimore Cooper.

I have been an Apache since childhood,

And this nordic air,

for me, is like water for fish.

It is my home.

The cold, too.

I can't handle the heat.

The city is not
my natural environment anymore.

This electric light.

I am no longer accustomed to it.

These concrete buildings also

appear to me now as
against human nature.

In the 1970s, we lived
at 3 Dzerzhinsky Street.

In the summer, in the courtyard
of every building.

we would put up speakers.

we would turn on the tape decks.

Every album that came out abroad,

arrived in Norilsk the same year.

A new Beatles album tor example,

you could hear it coming
from every courtyard.

The romantics of the time,

who created the image of
Norilsk and the Great North,

are all gone:

the era of the romantics is over.

At the time. there was a banner posted
in the middle at Lenin Avenue:

Norilsk is a region made up of
courageous and virile people.

And I agree with that.

A neighbor told me:
"When I was younger, I was in Norilsk.

We made a crazy amount of money there!

That's where you have to go!"

And so we went there to work
for three years, maximum:

we wanted to make enough money for our marriage, to return home and have a comfortable life.

And I have lived here since 1975,
so that is about 42 years.

Norilsk is a successful city
where nothing is missing

and where it is good to live!

I know perfectly well

that without the problems
tied to the factory pollution

Norilsk would not exist.

All this infrastructure wouldn't be here.

Because I live here, I have accept,
these are the rules of the game.

For me Norilsk is a "Wow" town,
it is my town.

"Wow" in the sense of "What a great city!"

"Wow!" like that.

Norilsk holds on to you despite these very hard living conditions.

Before we were building a radiant future.

Now we have arrived.

But what is going to happen next?

Evidently, we sustain ourselves
with the illusion of leaving here one day.

People's mentality is like that:

the longer you stay in Norilsk,
the more afraid you are to leave.

The hardest thing for Norilsk people

is to leave their warm nest

and to find their place elsewhere.

In any other city, you can quit your job,

move to a neighboring street,

apply for another company.

In Norilsk everything is harder.

If you leave Norilsk Nickel, you can't easily find another job.

Your destiny is tied to the factory.

In Norilsk, we say:

"we have fallen to
the same level as the 'continent'".

Now salaries are the same, though life is much more expensive: food, rent...

is a whole different value system now.

People's mentality has changed.

The dollar rules here,
we can't do anything about it.

The factory works for it too.

Mac Dollar

I worked in the copper factory.

It was very hard work.

I made a good living.

But a man can lose himself there.

It is a monotonous pace:
life goes by between two lockers.

You arrive in the morning, you work

and at the end of work,

it is like you have lost a bit of yourself

between the scrap metal,
the acids, the cranes...

That is why I quit.

The money is one thing
but I need to be myself,

to feel that I am free.

There I wasn't more than a screw

just a very small screw
in an enormous machine.

An easily replaceable screw.

My future? I picture it sunny...

and well-off.

and well-off.

But that is only another illusion.

I don't want to work at
the factory out of principle.

I would without a doubt
have better hours and a better salary.

But it is art that does matter to me.

I try to take photos, to draw.

In Norilsk, creating is one way...

to survive,

to fight as a human being.

I will never leave because
I hate this city with all my heart.

Like only a person who has
lived all his life here can hate it.

A person who is not indifferent
to this dying organism.

As the polar night stirs up the snow

Why don't you want to sleep?

Your neighbors the polar
bears are already sleeping

Go to sleep, my little one.

Your neighbors the polar
bears are already sleeping

Go to sleep, my little one.