The “testament” of Sentsov to the sounds of the sea touched the social network. VIDEO

The video story “Testament” by Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in Russia, is rapidly gaining popularity online. The video is a joint work of Radio NV and Hromadske.doc, a documentary-journalistic video project by Bogdan Kutepov, the publication writes Columnist.

Oleg Sentsov. Photo: ITAR-TASS

“Powerful stuff. When I heard it for the first time on the radio, I sat and thought about it. And yesterday I called Valery Kalnysh (editor-in-chief of Radio NV - Ed.), I said: give me the audio. I have an idea…. The result was such a video prose,” Kutepov said on his Facebook page.

According to him, the video was filmed in the open Black Sea. There are no cuts at all in the video; it is “a complete recording of the sea at 100% speed.”

Below is the full text of Oleg Sentsov’s “Testament,” voiced by Valery Kalnysh.

“We will all die. And I, unfortunately, am no exception. Everyone would like to live longer, and here I am, fortunately, no exception. No, I would not like to extend my life, live to be a hundred years old and spend the last quarter of them dragging out the decrepit existence of my body on various stimulants and drugs. I would like to live more of a young, full life, to receive pleasure from life or to give it to others, to walk or better run, to sleep at night or not to sleep, and in order for me to decide this, and not my body, together with my doctor.

Such a life I would like to live longer. But this is impossible. We all die. After death we will all turn into a piece of rotting meat buried at a depth of a couple of meters. We will have worms, and our respectable relatives will come to our graves, make sad faces, stand in front of a cross or a monument and look at our portraits, completely forgetting that crosses are placed at the feet of the departed and now all grieving fraternity stands together on the deceased's head and tenderly look at his portrait on granite. Then they get supplies with drinks, treat everyone, including the deceased, from whom time has left little, and the flowers all bloom. Paphos and prejudices, unnecessary church pagan rites and scholastics.

I do not want to be trampled on my head, even after my death, I don’t want to remain in the memory of my descendants as a portrait on a piece of granite, so that they would make trips at my grave, I don’t want to draw attention to myself, not now, much less after death. I don't want my grave.

As a child, at the age of four, I attended the funeral of my grandfather. Usually at such a young age, children do not remember themselves and very rarely remember the brightest events. But I remember this funeral. I remember very little. But I remember the main thing: how I stand on the edge of the grave, on a pile of earth, along with other relatives. And then, after the funeral, there was a revelation when they told me that my grandfather would not be digged back, that he was dead and that was forever. All my childhood was haunted by a nightmare, at night and in the evening I saw a black grave in a section and a body falling into it in a white shroud. It was the body of my grandfather, but I imagined and understood that sooner or later it would be me. Never take your children to a funeral.

As a child I was afraid that I would die. Now I am not afraid - now I know for sure that I will die. As a child I was afraid of a black grave, now I just don’t want to lie in it.

We all die. Everyone will die in different ways. Someone is quiet and calm, as they close the door to the nursery, in which the children have just fallen asleep. Someone - in the screams and torments, as at birth. I do not know how I will die, but I definitely would not want to die a deep old man in bed, surrounded by kin-like relatives.

One man was once asked how he would like to die, he answered: “With a shout of “Hurray!”, with a machine gun at the ready and with a mouth full of blood.” I would like that too, it’s beautiful, it’s masculine. But it won't work that way. Heroes leave gracefully only in movies and books. In life, they urinate blood on themselves, scream in pain and remember their mother.

I don't want to have a grave. I want to be burned. No, not at the stake of the Inquisition, but in a simple crematorium. They burned it and scattered the ashes over the sea. Preferably over Black, preferably in summer, with the sun shining and a fresh wind blowing. But if it’s autumn and rain, that’s also good. But shouldn’t I wait until summer if I die in November? Otherwise guests will come and ask: “What do you have in this vase?” “And this is our grandfather lying there, waiting for summer!” The vase, by the way, is also in the sea - no need to make a fetish out of it. Otherwise it will be - the same room, a year later, other guests: “What kind of vase do you have?” “Our grandfather lay in it,” the relatives will answer solemnly and standing. Well, then let’s hang my socks and panties around the house - those that are my favorite, and those that were last worn.

I want to be burned. To ashes. And the ashes were scattered. Above the sea. It's better in the summer, if, of course, I die in the summer. Just blow from the windward side of the side so that the ashes are carried out to sea and not scattered across the deck, and so that some especially tongue-tied and impudent grandson like a grandfather does not comment on the sweeping up of my remains with the phrase: “This old man was always a lot of trouble!”

And let the wind blow and carry the ashes to the sea. But if it rains, then that’s fine too - everyone will say: “Look, we’re burying a good man, since it’s raining.” We don’t bury, we sow, that is, we weed, comrades!

And if it rains and the ashes stick a little to the urn, that’s okay too. True, the same impudent grandson will look into the urn, see some ashes stuck there and say: “Yes, grandfather is still clinging to the edges of life!” But that’s okay - you’re at sea too. So that there won't be any left. Nothing left. Only memory. And that's it. And friends. And you. And then I will always be with you."

The video story touched the Ukrainian segment of social networks and caused a strong reaction among users.

“Not at all in my “mad” dynamics. But it adds up, especially when you watch it on the big screen - there are a lot of details there. Well, if the sound is good, then in general. At the same time, you can, on the contrary, read it like a book without sound at all on a minibus. You press play and you fall into meditation for 6 minutes,” Kutepov himself described his impressions.

"Will. Oleg Sentsov. Or who is a Free Man. From everything. Bars, handcuffs, stereotypes, “what people will say,” incomprehensible, unnecessary traditions…” commented journalist Khristina Kotsira.

“This is a masterpiece, very cool!”, “Strongly said...”, write the Ukrainians.

Recall, August 25 2015, the North Caucasian District Military Court of the Russian Federation sentenced Oleg Sentsov to the 20 years of strict regime. Another person involved in the case, Alexander Kolchenko, was given ten years of strict regime.

Sentsov is being held in the Polar Bear colony in the Russian Arctic. On May 14, 2018, a Ukrainian began an indefinite hunger strike demanding the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners.

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