Bela Bela

What keeps mankind alive

2001 · 70 min · Documentary

Under the toughest of living conditions, four poets have had to employ their imaginations in order to survive. Marjoleine Boonstra choose to focus on the sensory perception during their captivity. Personal stories about physical contact, sound, taste and smell gives intriguing view about the emotional years being in prison. At the age of eighteen, Nizametdin Achmetov went to jail a virgin, and twenty years later he emerged, still a virgin. The Cuban Maria Elena Cruz Varela was all by herself in a prison environment where anybody could betray her, while the Russian Irina Ratoesjinkaja found that her fellow prisoners could be indispensable allies. But during the first days after her release, her eyes could not stand the vivid colours of freedom.

Directed by Marjoleine Boonstra · Written by Marjoleine Boonstra