“Here Is the War We Won” or Cruelty Does Not Have Nationality

Mariam Imerlishvili

Many articles were written, many TV-stories and films were created about the War in August of 2008. However, the documentary film by investigative journalist Vakhtang Komakhidze “Here Is the War We Won” is completely different and it became fatal for him. When working on the film, Komakhidze received a political shelter in Switzerland because Georgian authority persecuted him.

First of all, the purpose of the documentary is to inform the society what in fact happened in South Ossetia in 2008. However, the film is particularly interesting because it largely analyzes the real reasons and results of the war. The film was prepared by Studio “Reporter” with financial support of the Heinrich Boell Foundation.

The Human Rights Center organized the screening of the film in the Cinema House on July 11. Before that, on June 16, the film was screened in Hague International Criminal Court.

The film lasts 50 minutes and has English subtitles.

The film about Georgian reality lists the mistakes of the Georgian government that finally resulted into the escalation of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Finally, we lost territories and had casualty full of blood and corpses.

The film destroys the PR myths of the government of Georgia which alleges that Georgian army defeated the unconquerable Russian army. The documentary proves the opposite. The most important aspect of the film is seeking the reasons of the conflict on the Georgian side that irritates part of the audience. They think the film is biased and Russian role in this conflict is not mentioned at all. However, several experts speak exactly about these reasons and say that Georgia was provoked by Russia several times throughout the entire history; among them was the military provocation of 2008 which ended with recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia.

The experts said in the film that Georgia had not worked out the peacebuilding strategy and the negotiations on peaceful resolution of the conflict have never been realized.  

The author of the film used real videos in his film where captured Georgian soldiers are ruthlessly tortured by Ossetian soldiers; some of them were forced to step over the Georgian flag and Ossetian soldiers are entertaining with it. The film is full of painful pictures and is difficult to watch.

Journalists, actors and ordinary citizens attended the presentation. They made different evaluations. Part of the audience said the film demonstrated the reality but others think it was emotionally hard film.

Executive director of the Human Rights Center Ucha Nanuashvili said the people accepted the film and saw what really happened during the war. The main point is that analyze in the film should teach us good lesson in order to prevent future mistakes of the Georgian state.

“Vakhtang Komakhidze is a hero for me for having created this film. This film is a true film,” said actor Dima Jaiani.

There were people in the hall who did not compare the cruelty of Georgian and Ossetian people with each other and they differently viewed the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

“Those are guilty who turned our disagreement into a war. After the war broke out, nobody can swear that either Georgian or Ossetian side did not act ruthlessly. Cruelty does not have nationality. If we have a leader who loves gun-blazing, all our efforts are useless,” Lili Khutiri told us.

The Center is negotiating with the TV-Companies to show the film. The Human Rights Center believes that the Georgian society should see the film in order to differently view and evaluate the August war.