166. Donbass; movie review
Cert 15
122 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, threat
One of the great dilemmas of movie-watching is how much you should research a film beforehand.
For mainstream movies, especially comedies, I try to avoid trailers or many references because I fear the game being given away.
However, Mrs W and I would have derived much more from Donbass if we had known more aware of the politics in this region of Ukraine.
Of course, we were aware, through news bulletins, of the disputed territories being occupied by pro-Russian forces.
However, we were not totally clear about the various factions - and that knowledge would have made Donbass much more accessible.
I can see why Sergei Loznitsa's film has been acclaimed because of its examination of the way the extraordinary becomes commonplace during wartime.
In Donbass, killings and robberies are as much a part of life's tapestry as a trip to the shops might be for us.
Loznitsa's film is made up of 13 episodes and offers an original and disturbing take on modern-day war.
Contemporary television reports are filtered into the movie as is the development of fake news.
It is a world where the warmongers have convinced themselves that they hold the baton of right and that hatred for one's neighbour is acceptable.
In the meantime, real life somehow continues, albeit in strange circumstances.
So, while some are hiding away from the bombings and shootings, in underground bunkers, living cheek by jowl, others are able to take advantage of the erratic new world and carry on with relationships and even weddings.
Donbass has no lead actors so there is no character investment but it does give a strong sense of what it must be like to live in the chaos which has beset this region of Ukraine and engenders deep pity for the people who live there.
Reasons to avoid: Requires background political knowledge
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10
Did you know? Since the conflict began in 2014, there have been more than twenty ceasefires in Donbass, each intended to remain in force indefinitely, but none of them stopped the violence. The most successful attempt to halt the fighting was in 2016 when a ceasefire held for six consecutive weeks.
The final word. Sergei Loznitsa: "The situations and circumstances, which seem to be absurd, grotesque, even comic, and almost impossible to imagine, do happen in real life. They happen because the iron logic of the underworld, which affected all those generations born and bred in the catastrophe, that was the USSR, dictates its own rules."
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