Yerkrasharzh (2016)

The film’s plot is based on real events. On December 7, 1988, a devastating earthquake struck the Armenian SSR (with tremors measuring 6.8 in magnitude, or 7.2 according to other sources), affecting almost half the territory of the Soviet republic. The cities of Spitak, Leninakan, Kirovakan and Stepanavan, along with more than 300 other settlements, were destroyed. 25,000 people died, 19,000 were left disabled, and more than 500,000 were left homeless. The film covers the four days of the tragedy, following events in Leninakan from December 7 to 10, 1988. At the beginning of the film, we see a crash: in 1980, in a tunnel, architect Konstantin Berezhnoi causes a head-on collision between his Volga and a Zhiguli carrying an Armenian family. (None of the Armenian family members was wearing a seat belt, even though seat-belt use had been made mandatory in the USSR in 1979.) All the passengers in the Zhiguli die except for 12-year-old Robert, whom Konstantin manages to save. Robert remembers only the horseshoe-shaped pendant around Konstantin’s neck. Eight years pass. The now-grown Robert wakes up on the morning of December 7, 1988, and goes to the barbershop of his second cousin Senik, who has taken him in. During the opening credits, the film shows everyday life in Leninakan: its streets, the market, and the peaceful routine of an ordinary day. Several storylines unfold at once. Robert tells his cousin he intends to meet the man who killed his parents, and Senik gives him a gun. Lilit turns down Armen, an older cemetery worker who is courting her and has given her and her brother a dining table. An elderly Armenian, Yerem, throws his pregnant daughter Gayane and her fiancé out of the house for having a premarital relationship. Konstantin Berezhnoi, having served eight years in prison, returns home to his family: his wife Anna, son Vanya, and daughter Katya. Vanya and his mother have gone to the market to buy meat for a meal to welcome his father. At exactly 11:41 local time, the earthquake levels Leninakan. Konstantin sees buildings collapsing through the airplane window. Yerem is saved because he had gone outside to smoke. Lilit’s brother manages to shelter her beneath the new table. Gayane’s fiancé dies before her eyes while saving a child he knows, named Arsen: he throws the boy out of a window into his mother’s arms, then is buried beneath the rubble of a hospital. Robert survives and helps a local police officer save his father. Vanya also survives, but his mother falls onto a piece of reinforcing bar and cannot walk. She sends her son home, but he cannot find either the house or the street, and returns to her. In tears, she calms him, sensing that she has only a few hours left to live; she tells him she will not die as long as he loves her. Konstantin finds the ruins of his house and meets Robert there, but Robert does not recognize him. Together, they work out how to save Lilit, who is alive but trapped beneath the table. Other Leninakan survivors help the injured and gather the bodies of the dead from the streets. Armen, the cemetery worker, takes an active part in transporting the corpses; he had mistakenly caused the deaths of his own people by herding them beneath an archway. That night, Konstantin meets the local police officer, and they greet each other warmly. At the same time, a gang of looters led by Senik is ransacking the ruins of houses. Arsen’s mother takes Gayane to the doctors, and she gives birth to a son. Arsen’s mother finds Yerem and tells him he has become a grandfather. He reacts coldly to the news until he learns how his daughter’s fiancé died. Then he repents, goes to the ruined hospital, and asks his dead son-in-law for forgiveness, saying, “Lord, why do you explain things so painfully?” His daughter forgives him, and the family is reunited. Robert talks with Lilit, who is trapped in the rubble: a car alone will not be enough to save her; they need a crane. Around the same time, he encounters Senik and his accomplices in the streets. The brothers are happy to see each other, but Robert notices someone else’s watch on Senik’s wrist and realizes what he has become. They part ways. Anna dies from her injury. Vanya refuses to understand what has happened, and an interpreter takes him to the French rescuers’ camp. Konstantin searches for his family and finds his dead daughter; he cannot hold back his tears. He learns nothing about his wife and son, and leaves a family photograph bearing his signature on a search board. Robert sees the horseshoe pendant around Konstantin’s neck and realizes who he is. Confused, he asks Lilit what he should do, but gets no answer. That night, the local police officer catches the looters in the act of robbing a jewelry store. But Senik’s accomplice, Ryzhy, kills the officer and takes his service weapon, seizing control of the gang. A crane operator arrives in Leninakan from Rostov. With his help and that of a truck driver, Robert and Konstantin almost manage to save Lilit, but looters who have just arrived get in their way. Ryzhy tries to steal the truck; the gang needs a vehicle to leave the city. Senik asks his brother to go along with them, promising to leave forever and not hurt anyone. Robert snatches Senik’s gun, but Ryzhy realizes Robert will not be able to kill him because he has never taken a life, and lunges at him with a knife. Konstantin shields Robert and takes the blow himself. The crowd restrains the looters and beats them brutally. The truck driver and crane operator save Lilit. Robert gazes at her and sees Konstantin sitting on the ground—the wound inflicted by Ryzhy has proved fatal. Konstantin admits, “I know who you are,” asks Robert to find his family, and gives him the horseshoe pendant before dying of blood loss. The interpreter recognizes Vanya in the photograph on the search board. That night, the truck driver brings Vanya to Robert. Robert introduces himself as a relative and takes the boy in. Lilit thanks Armen for the table that saved her life, but he does not respond, having gone mad with grief. Yerem finds his wife alive beneath the rubble of their house and joyfully tells her she has become a grandmother. When she asks, “How will we live?” he answers, “Well!” In the epilogue, scenes recreated from real photographs are shown. The looters are arrested. Excavation and rescue operations continue. At exactly 11:41, a “minute of silence” is declared: rescuers listen in case cries come from anyone trapped beneath the rubble, and hear a baby crying. During the closing credits, real photographs appear on screen beside the corresponding shots from the film.