Alexei and the Spring

Following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986, everyone in the Belarusian village of Budische was evacuated. Everyone, that is, except for 55 of the most elderly residents, who refused to leave, and Alexei (now 37), who wanted to stay with his parents. Alexei narrates this observational film, which follows the old folks as they go about their daily business 14 years after the disaster, at the steady pace at which their days pass by. Alexei talks about the traditions, celebrations and rituals that mark the calendar in Budische. The villagers are virtually self-sufficient. All that is brought in from outside are the monthly pension payments – which are immediately exchanged for bottles of vodka. The locals don’t seem to be troubled in the least by the supposed high levels of radiation – in fact, the priest holds a ceremony at the spring that miraculously escaped contamination. As long as everyone is still fit enough to fetch water there, life in Budische calmly carries on. is a loving ode to a vanishing agrarian way of life, and to people who have stayed true to their roots.