The Babushkas of Chernobyl (2015) Online

Co-directors Holly Morris and Anne Bogart's Kickstarter-backed film shows none of the horrific deformations that mainstream media covered following 1986's Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion. Rather, The Babushkas of Chernobyl is an important and inspiring testament to what can endure in a destructive world. With lovely tenderness and wit, the film focuses on three old women who self-settled back within the still highly radioactive Exclusion Zone. These old babushkas survived the starvation-genocide of the Holodomor, the Nazis, and more -- defying authority after being ordered to permanently relocate from their ancestral homes.

The film poses to us a mystery: How have these old women happily outlived those who reside outside the radioactive zone, often by more than a decade? Being invited into their homes, listening to the details of their lives, we become like their own grandchildren hearing this cautionary tale. For we who live in a post-Fukushima world have much to learn.

There are about 200 babushkas living within the Exclusion Zone. With their stout frames and sweet faces donning varied yet nearly- identical headscarves, babushkas have been synonymous with cuteness. Their faithful adherence to tradition, in appearance and taste (they do somewhat resemble Russian stacking dolls!), is in itself endearing. However, go deeper, as these are the women who must be reckoned with if you want to survive. Strong-chinned Hanna Zavorotnya, who lovingly attends to the graves of her family, insists she's healthier than her friends who live in Kiev. Maria Shovkuta is a wiley, feisty little lady who once lied about digging under barbed wire to return to her homeland. Behind Valentyna Ivanivna's self-mocking songs, lies a remarkable wisdom and knowledge of the healing power of herbs.

There's much in the film that's about devotion. We learn the little-known side-story of today's new generation of covert "Stalkers" who sneak their way into the forbidden zone. Like the babushkas, it's devotion that drives them. The camouflaged young rebels are like pilgrims risking their lives to honor the relics of post- apocalyptic remains.

Later in the film, a modern older woman lab technician, possibly near babushka-age, poses an interesting contrast to the headscarf- donning grandmothers. "It's just their ignorance and simple lack of knowledge," she says about the old women living on the contaminated land. No babushka, she.

The film takes place during the 25th anniversary of the disaster, ironically during the month of Easter. Easter is the holiest time of the Ukrainian year. It's why the babushkas greet each other with "Christ is risen!" Acts of devotion and triumph of life over death resonate throughout the film — whether this was intentional or not is uncertain. Still, in her TED talk about filming for three years in Chernobyl, Holly Morris observes: "The dead zone, it turns out, is full of life."

Went to see this documentary tonight. HAD to see this.

It has to be something big, something worthwhile to get me into downtown Chicago at night.

Big like a Circus protest, Chicago Bird Collision Monitoring, a trip to a museum, a really good play or This.

Definitely This.

A documentary like no other I have ever seen before.

A real story of real women who only wanted this: Home.

So, even though it was forbidden, after Chernobyl, they snuck back in and returned to a place that brings them soft comfort of familiarity. Connectedness with their land. A familiarity so deep and profound that it tethers them to their homeland even in the face of radioactive poisoning.

Their communities gone, they are joyful for the company of the film makers as they share their life stories, tell jokes and even sing.

These women are pillars.

Pillars of strength, determination and endurance.

Within them lives a fierce loyalty coupled with a sadness from lack of visitors…though they mask it well, actually.

There is one woman who was a medical professional and worked the emergency room on the day of the disaster.

She had developed thyroid cancer and had her thyroid removed. But Oh! You should see her garden! She has plenty of herbs, fruits, all sorts of native, natural remedies growing right there in her yard… And she knows how to harvest and use them. At her last medical testing, her levels of radiation exposure were way down.

They are resourceful. They are smart.

I fell in love with them all and wished at the end of it I could stroll down that forested lane to their meager homes and check-in on them. Give them a smile, a hug, a loaf of bread, some tea and maybe a tin of cookies.

With their advanced age, they are akin to a species facing extinction.

They have gone home to live. But they have also gone home to die. That is how they want it and that is how it should be.

These women showed us that our happiness is intricately entwined with our health and wellbeing. People who were evacuated from their homes that did not return were found to have shortened life spans compared to these women that did return.

How about that.

Great film. Very, very great.

For nearly 30 years a community of unlikely heroines have lived in Chernobyl's post-nuclear disaster "dead zone." Stylish and stubborn, these fascinating women have survived, and even thrived, on some of the most toxic land on Earth. They are the last survivors of a community who refused to leave their ancestral homes after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. But the babushkas aren't the only risk-takers: scientists, bureaucrats and even young men and women called "Stalkers" (who break in illegally to pursue their video game-inspired fantasies) explore the dystopia Zone and seek out its radioactive grandmas. First-time feature documentary filmmakers Holly Morris and Anne Bogart's portrait of a community tells a remarkable tale about the pull of home, the healing power of shaping one's own destiny and the subjective nature of risk

Truth is stranger than fiction. This documentary is a well-edited tight 70 minutes of profound shock and awe. I was left speechless and the impact went straight to my nonverbal subconscious. I dreamed all night about being one of the babushkas. Existential and experiential philosophy.

The Chernobyl disaster was described in vivid detail in the book Voices from Chernobyl, which I also highly recommend. This film shows how some people still living there managed to survive. Mother nature is greater than the force of radiation, the earth continues to grow and living things flourish.

I salute the courage of the people who went there to see it for themselves and gave us the gift of seeing it without having to take the risks of going there...

These women are some of the most remarkable and incredible women you will ever encounter. They had me laughing, smiling, crying, eyes-wide in amazement - you name it, I felt it during this excellent, well-made documentary.

It's also the definitive documentary on Chernobyl and its inhabitants. A passionate love letter to a homeland. Thought-provoking in a powerful way. Can't help but think I'll be using these amazing women as a reference point for whenever my life gets challenging - what would the Babushkas of Chernobyl do or say?

They'd probably sing a song, take a shot of vodka and go look for some wild mushrooms.

Speechless.

Go give your Grandmother a big hug.

Spasibo.