‘Militantropos’ review: The invasion of Ukraine through the prism of everyday life

Dirs: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi. Ukraine/Austria/France. 2025. 111mins

On a regular basis life in Ukraine is the topic of the documentary Militantropos, which observes the quotidian goings-on of not solely Ukrainian troopers but in addition common residents residing in a rustic at battle. Directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mozgovyi, credited collectively as Tabor Collective, the mission began filming in 2022 and takes a Wiseman-like method in that it purely observes, editorialising primarily by means of framing, shot decisions and enhancing. The camera- and soundwork is usually placing and the consequence absorbing, although this type of relentlessly downbeat work, nonetheless well timed, will in all probability see extra big-screen motion at festivals than in industrial theatres following its bow in Administrators’ Fortnight.

There’s a sense that everybody we see within the movie is at battle on some stage

Although there isn’t a voice-over or a lot else by way of introductory textual content, Militantropos does begin with an on-screen breakdown of its title, which was developed by the administrators with thinker Oleksandr Komarov. It’s, the movie suggests, a mixture of ’milit’, Latin for ‘soldier’, and ‘antropos’, Greek for ‘human’, with an extra rationalization suggesting that it’s a ’persona adopted by people when getting into a state of battle’.

There’s certainly a way that everybody we see within the movie is at battle on some stage. The troopers, most clearly, as a result of they’re preventing, but in addition the common people whose every day lives have been impacted on many ranges: some are compelled to go away, others return to their properties in ruins after their space has been liberated once more. If there’s one overarching message, it’s that battle leaves nobody detached or untouched. Whereas that may appear to be an apparent conclusion, in these precarious instances it’s good to be reminded why for a few years, at the very least in most elements of the Western world, battle had develop into a type of taboo.  

There are few recurring characters, no apparent chronology nor a lot by way of geographical indications, although the fabric is roughly organised into three sections. The primary half appears to focus on the early days of the invasion, when individuals crowded practice stations as many tried to go away the nation, politicians answered questions on the street, and civilians have been taught the best way to use army-grade weapons. The instant price of battle is defined in a single shot, as an excavator has turned a bit of forest right into a makeshift cemetery. The shot is contrasted with one other by which an improvised picket cross is seen, caught within the mud, with some sweets in wrappers at its base little doubt left by grieving dad and mom or associates.

The second half goes from shock and anger to a response, whether or not army or from atypical residents. What’s placing in regards to the army response is how a lot of it has develop into ’an workplace job’, with excessive commanders screens of satellite tv for pc or drone footage and making tactical choices from a sure distance – although there are nonetheless trenches and extra direct fight too. Most of the pictures are unheimlich, suggesting life goes on (or at the very least tries to) even in absurd circumstances. Trenches lie deserted in a park filled with cherry blossoms and taking part in youngsters, whereas a stoic farmer tills his land — a picture a number of millennia previous — as a contemporary artillery shell is seen within the foreground. Combating might have ended right here – however for the way lengthy and at what value?  

The closing sequences attempt to recommend one thing in regards to the indomitable spirit of each nature and the Ukrainian individuals and accommodates among the most mesmerising materials, with sturdy mixtures of well-framed photographs and soundwork (the rating is usually extra of a drone-like digital affair). A few of these moments are haunting but in addition create new questions. Is battle being aestheticised? Or is that this life in Ukraine, the spirit of resistance and the seek for magnificence amidst terror and violence? Would Militantropos nonetheless be thought-about cinema if it appeared extra just like the night information? Wouldn’t it really feel extra genuine? What are the instruments of cinema however pictures and sound attempting to create that means? And do they even make sense in a battle resembling this one? 

Smith, Gorlova and Mozgovyi have introduced two additional movies utilizing the fabric they’ve shot over the previous three years, so extra solutions is likely to be forthcoming.