Šuša

A heart-warming portrait documentary Shusha explores in the intimate atmosphere the daily life of Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich, the first head of state of Belarus. What is his daily routine like and what is on the mind of a man, who a quarter of a century ago initiated Belavezha accords, signed by Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, which were the basis to effectively dissolve the Soviet Union. Shushkevich, who every now and then likes to play Vyssotski’s earlier songs on a piano just to himself or his closest friends, is one of the Great Men of contemporary history, whose ‘domino effect’ initiative caused a geopolitical shift in Europe. However, what Shushkevich himself considers as his greatest achievement is not sending ‘a sixth of the planet’ to meet its maker but making a post-independent Belarus a nuclear weapon-free state. Shusha is a positive story about a theme of remaining a human being. Other important themes include the position of ethnicity, language and culture, for the Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians differ from each other quite a bit regarding mentality, culture and social attitudes. (Estonian Film Institute)