‘Militantropos’ Review: Another Staggering Ukrainian Documentary About What War Actually Looks Like

Cannes: Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, and Simon Mozgovyi’s mesmerizing vérité documentary is another entry in the unfortunately burgeoning Ukrainian nonfiction new wave. It’s heartbreakingly ironic that, as Vladimir Putin continues his messianic battle to wipe Ukraine from the map, the country’s documentarians are fighting back the one way they know how — by creating films that seem to just get better and better with every bomb dropped. Simply put, what began for many as a way to keep track of war crimes has now transformed into nothing less than a new way of seeing. In fact, because of the heightened stakes on the ground — the ever-present tightrope-walking between existence and nonexistence — life, and thus the recording of life, is now lived in 3D. There’s a heightened sensitivity to every sound and image encountered during wartime, a hyper-awareness that translates with precision onto the screen. In other words, this uber-focus is a result of their own metamorphoses as filmmakers and as human beings. Great art has become a byproduct of war.

To read the rest of my review visit IndieWire.