In 1979, the renowned director and public figure Gemma Firsova noted that Vidugiris's dilogy is an "outstanding phenomenon" in documentary cinema.
The film focuses not only on the scale of the construction of the Toktogul HPP but also on the people involved in this process: builders, shepherds, local residents, and archaeologists whose fates intertwined with the life of the river.
The film was highly praised by Chinghiz Aitmatov as well. At the IV Congress of Cinematographers of the Kyrgyz Republic in April 1982, he said: "...I again turn to the films of Vidugiris, urging young graduates of VGIK to take them as an example. Seek your path in understanding real life, not in fictional plots."
More than half a century later, "Naryn Diary" is perceived as an important document of its era. The digital restoration returns the film its visual richness and allows for a renewed understanding of the history of the people who built the Toktogul HPP and the director himself, who did not just observe but actively participated in this process. This is what gives the film its unique value.
