Ukraine Cinema of Protest: 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 favorite’s 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 many horrors — imprisonment, torture, forced cooperation — before abruptly winning his freedom and beginning a process of recovery with his young daughter back in Kiev.
Detailed Plot
The film’s hero, Serhiy, is a Ukrainian military surgeon captured by the Russian military forces in 2014 during a battle at the Russo-Ukrainian War in Eastern Ukraine.
During his time as the prisoner of war, Serhiy witnesses terrifying scenes of torture, rape and other dehumanizing behavior towards POWs.
Soon after, as part of a prison swap between Russia and Ukraine, Serhiy gets released from captivity and returns to his pre-war normal day-to-day life, only to discover that the horrors that he witnessed as a prisoner are still haunting him.
In order to help fight his post-war PTSD, Serhiy decides to fix his relationships with his ex-wife and his estranged daughter Polina, age 12, who is suffering from recent loss of a close person at the war.
As Serhiy spends more time with Polina and tries to help her move on from the loss of a loved one, he gradually starts to confront his own post-traumatic fears and anxieties.
Crew
Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych
Writer: Valentyn Vasyanovych
Cinematographer: Valentyn Vasyanovych
Editor: Valentyn Vasyanovych
Producers: Valentyn Vasyanovych, Iya Myslyts’ka, Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Sobolevska
Production designer: Vladlen Odudenko
Sound director: Serhiy Stepanksyi
Costume designer: Olena Hermanenko
Make-up: Hanna Lukashenko
Camera man: Yuriy Dunay
Casting: Tetiana Symon
Cast
Roman Lutskyi [uk] as Serhiy
Nika Myslyts’ka as Polina
Nadiya Levchenko as Olha
Andriy Rymaruk as Andriy
Oleksandr Danyliuk as Surgeon
Andrii Senchuk as Psychologist
Ihor Shulha as Chief of the Prison
Dmytro Sova as tortured Ukrainian prisoner
Stanislav Aseyev as Russian FSB officer
