Which Ukrainian Documentary to see at Hot Docs 2024
It’s past the halfway mark of Hot Docs 2024 and I’m doing my best to see what I can. As of today (yesterday? What time is it?? lol) I have seen all of the Ukrainian titles and have found Intercepted to be most impactful of the trio.
All three films address civilian life and the impacts of the Russian invasion, with Porcelain War garnering recognition at Sundance. But where Nice Ladies and Porcelain War come from seemingly gentler angles of sport and art, Intercepted makes no bones that it’s here to expose truths and propaganda fed to the Russian soldiers and families at the frontlines of the invasion.
Porcelain War has no remaining screenings, the 2nd screening of Intercepted is today at 2:15pm at the Hot Docs Cinema, and Nice Ladies screens again on May 4th. As such I won't delve too deep into the former, other than to say for a film that begins with art, it supplies images of the fatalities of war and other very in-depth insights into battle. It's the only one of the three films where I did not get to listen to the Q&A so maybe that's what's affecting my opinion of the film because of the three, it's the one I preferred the least.
Nice Ladies began as a very different project, about bodies, aging, and perception, which I think would have been very interesting. It's a window into not only wartime but how it affects people, their families, friendships, and relationships. It's also an eye-opening glimpse into the interactions of this group of ladies and their hardened personalities that are a direct result of having lived in times of occupation.
Intercepted pairs imagery of the Ukraine during invasion (the imagery is not graphic for those who are concerned, largely bombed out buildings, deserted homes, and village roads) with audio clips of intercepted phone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families via cell phone calls. I was struck by the different layers of these conversations, the different and similar beliefs and attitudes, alongside aspects of envy, hatred, and indifference. There are many angles to consider, a single conversation may include racial slurs and a desire to exterminate the Ukrainians, but also an envy towards their westernized way of life, to laments of their own governments and benefits of western goods. It's a sad and alarming realization the harm caused by misinformation in a closed society, to see people brainwashed into believing evils that do not exist.
My biggest takeaways from these two films' Q&As come directly from each filmmaker. Mariia Ponomarova of Nice Ladies mentions how every generation of Ukrainians have experienced either occupation or invasion. Intercepted director Oksana Karpovych's intention was to highlight the imperialist invasions through the decades by Russia, she did so by using conversations that made reference to Chechnya, etc.
Here ends my official write up on these films, for those interested in a personal note:
Aside from my support for the people of Ukraine, and the fact that I was lackadaisical and missed on the opportunity to see many of the films about Ukraine at Hot Docs 2023... as a Russian/Ukrainian language learner I have few opportunities to see films in these languages and so this was an excellent and important opportunity for me. I don't know how much this helped me to discern between the two languages. Certainly I was able to pick out some differences in Porcelain War and Nice Ladies, but Intercepted was meant to showcase the different Russian accents to show the diversity of the source material. Here is where I came to the sad realization that all these different accents (almost dialects if you will) are just another showcase of the different groups still under Russian control. The Ukrainians have found independence and so their language has its own name, how many different peoples across 11 time zones are forced to be grouped as one?
