Ex-Alcoholic Tractor Driver Quits Drinking and Stars in Film

Until the age of 48, he regularly went on drinking binges, but still managed to stop and now doesn«t drink alcohol at all. Our interviewee is an ordinary village tractor driver, Valery Andreyev, who wasn»t ashamed to appear in the documentary «Sober Village,» which aired on Russian TV platforms.

«What»s there to be ashamed of?« he wondered in a conversation with UFA1.RU. »It happened, everyone saw it.«

Valery lives in the village of Dyurtyuli in Bashkiria. He was born there in 1962, studied at the local school, and met his future wife there.

«In the third grade, we even sat at the same desk, but we were always fighting and arguing, so they separated us,» Valery recalls.

After finishing school, he immediately went to work at the tractor park, and soon he was drafted into the army. After serving two years in the air force, Valery returned home and continued working as a tractor driver in the village.

«All the time in the fields, at the slightest thing – we»d drink. We used any excuse. Hammered a nail – have a drink. Vodka, homemade moonshine. At first a little, then – more, more, more. I drank in binges. I wasn«t alone, but some people know their limit, they drink and that»s it, no continuation the next day. But me – and the next day, and then, and then,« Andreyev says.

Despite the binges, Valery initially didn«t worry much about his life and health. The problem didn»t seem that terrible to him, especially since sometimes Andreyev went for long periods without alcohol at all. But then he would fall back, as they say, into the abyss, and each time he went deeper.

«I could go months without drinking, but one glass to the mouth – and that»s it, I was lost. There are people who have a bottle and it just sits there, but others need to drink it all and go for more. If I knew how to drink, maybe I wouldn«t have quit,» Andreyev jokes.

Meanwhile, according to Valery, there was already a shortage of tractor drivers in the village. They kept him on the job, and sometimes he would go out drunk. Because of this, he once even drove a tractor into a river. He miraculously survived, but didn«t quit drinking. Meanwhile, his drinking buddies around him gradually dwindled.

«My wife»s brother even passed away before his time. He was 48, also worked, also drank. In the end – cirrhosis of the liver. I remember, I drank a bottle of vodka once, and I thought: another week or two of this, and they«ll carry me to the cemetery too,» Valery recounts.

The turning point for him was the appointment of Radik Fayzullin as chairman of the local kolkhoz (collective farm). He was a couple of years older than Andreyev, but they knew each other from school, and then Radik left the village, returning after many years. Seeing the state Valery was in when he came to work, the new kolkhoz chairman admitted to him that he himself had not been without sin in the past. But – in the past.

«He said that he hasn»t drunk at all for many years, and knows how I can quit. He says: «Just tell me, and I»ll arrange everything.« I don»t know how he drank or didn«t drink when he wasn»t in the village, but I remembered his words,« the tractor driver says.

After another drinking bout, he finally turned to Fayzullin. He specifically asked several times: «Do you really want to quit?» Valery confirmed again and again that yes, definitely. Then the kolkhoz chairman asked him to wait three days, until they found a temporary replacement for Valery and took him to a coding specialist in the city.

Fayzullin set one condition: not to drink a drop until that moment. Valery promised that he wouldn«t, but the very next day he couldn»t resist. According to Andreyev, that April day became one of the main memorable dates in his life.

«I told everyone that I was going to get coded. The guys were surprised: »Valerka, such things are usually done quietly. You«re lying, you probably won»t go anywhere, just talking.« But why hide it? I drank openly, everyone saw. I»m going for myself, to get treatment, not for someone else. But the day before departure, I drank two bottles of gin and tonic,« Andreyev admits.

Unlike him, Fayzullin kept his promise. He sent him to the city hospital with his wife on the appointed date. According to Valery, the doctor first talked with him for a long time, then took his wife aside. Later he found out that the specialist wanted to confirm with the wife that the patient had come voluntarily.

«Even before arriving, I thought that maybe I agreed in vain. Then I decided: heck, I promised Radik Salikhovich, I gave my word! How can I go back now?!» Valery recalls.

Convincing the doctor that he himself had decided on the treatment, Valery underwent all the necessary procedures. For this, he had to stay in the city for some time, but upon returning, he was firmly sure that he wouldn«t drink anymore.

«Radik Salikhovich warned me: »Valerka, at first, you can«t do without doctors.» Later, he says, you yourself won«t want to. And I really already wanted to just live without drinking, a sober life,» the tractor driver says.

This thought and the word given to his older comrade helped him abstain from alcohol. A year after coding, grief struck his family – his mother died.

«Then even enemies and friends looked at me like: »Now you«ll drink,»« Valery says. »But I didn«t drink then or later. Not even a thought.»

Later, Radik Fayzullin also passed away, to whom Andreyev, as he admits himself, is still grateful for the help. But the main loss for him in 2023 was the death of his wife, with whom he grew up and raised three daughters. The daughters are already adults, they left the village, got married, but sometimes visit their father.

«Young people don»t stay here. I sometimes think that in another five years, there will be no one left in the village at all. In 1981, there were 20 of us tractor drivers, and now – only two, me and my classmate,« Valery laments.

Note that about half a thousand people live in Dyurtyuli. In 2023, the local council participated in the project «Sober Village». This republican program to combat drunkenness, the winners of which receive additional subsidies for development.

The eponymous film in the genre of documentary tragicomedy was released recently but has already received high ratings from critics. In particular, it is praised for its vitality and humor. Valery Andreyev became one of the heroes of the film, so now he is a real celebrity. By the way, about what «Sober Village» is and why it«s worth watching, read in the analysis by UFA1.RU.