Ukraine Cinema: Films That Explore the Human Toll of Russia’s Aggression
Some of Ukraine’s filmmakers have been exploring the trauma that followed Russia’s invasions of Crimea and the Donbas region.
Ambitious Ukrainian filmmakers have made various features exploring the human toll of Russia’s military aggression.
Such cinema offers a kaleidoscopic view into the lives and concerns of contemporary Ukrainians coping with the deadly hardships of Russia’s 2014 takeover of Crimea and warfare in the Donbas region.
The films offer an opportunity for greater empathy and understanding of the conflict, seen through the vision of Ukrainian artists.
‘Reflection’ (2021), by Valentyn Vasyanovych
Ukrainian Valentyn Vasyanovych’s latest feature, Reflection, was one of the critical triumphs of last year’s Venice Film Fest.
With staggering visual restraint and artistry, Vasyanovych uses fixed mid-range shots to tell a wrenching story about a young doctor (Roman Lutskiy) who volunteers to care for the wounded near the battle zone in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Unfortunately, he is captured by soldiers who are pretending to be natives but are really Russian mercenaries shipped in to aid the invasion.
The doctor undergoes a sequence of horrors — imprisonment, torture, forced cooperation — before abruptly winning his freedom and beginning a process of recovery with his young daughter back in Kiev.
