Social media users are sharing a video of a man and woman being shot, claiming it shows Ukrainian military violence against civilians in Chechnya. The clip, however, is from a 2014 French film by an Oscar-winning director.
Several accounts have shared the clip (here, here, here, here).
One user posting the video wrote (here “REMINDER! Ukrainian army did when they entered the land of Chechnya and executed an old man who was reading Surat Al-Fatihah with his wife without mercy and today the verse is reversed and Chechnya enters with the Russian army.. to take REVENGE.”
The footage is from 2014 French drama film “The Search”, written and directed by Academy Award-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (here)).
It is set in Chechnya in 1999 during the Second Chechen War, according to IMDB (www.imdb.com/title/tt2177827/).
The 2014 feature-length is viewable on YouTube, dubbed in Turkish (here). The clip shared on social media begins at timestamp 5:00.
The movie was inspired by the 1948 American film of the same name, which was set across post-World War 2 Europe (www.imdb.com/title/tt0040765).
After fighting for independence from Russia in the First Chechen War (1994–1996), Chechnya‘s control was captured by Russia in the Second Chechen War (1999–2000), according to a timeline of conflict there (here).
During Russia’s 2022 offensive in Ukraine, Chechen fighters were deployed to the country, according to Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin (here).
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The video shows actors in 2014 French drama film “The Search”, set in Chechnya in 1999.
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