The power of art lies in its ability to reveal the universal through the singular. Film director Vyacheslav (Slavik) Bihun once again talentedly discovered one of many mysteries why the small country withstood in the fight against the aggression of its powerful neighbor empire, why a strong- in-spirit loner did not surrender to the inhumane system, why the spiritual is stronger than the violent.
From the start, the film (I watched it at Molodist International Film Festival in Kyiv at its premiere) gives rise to an allusion as its story is similar to that of Ivan Bahrianyi's ingenious book "Tigrolovy"(Eng. "Tiger Trappers"). We witness the same tortures in Russian prisons, inhuman treatment of the prisoner, desperate attempt to remain a human in inhuman conditions. However, this is a true story from 2014: young people are on their trip to Russia instead of gaining benefits almost ended their lives as they were captured and tortured once they refused to "cooperate" against Ukraine.
Character Yuriy Yatsenko's impressive monologues are concise and calm. But the experience both characters lived through pervades with horror to the bones. Torture and attempts to cripple prisoners, the deprivation of all human rights and the attempt to deprive them of dignity once again brings Russia back to distant medieval past, the times of confrontation with the civilized world.
In contrast to the Bahrianyi's character, our hero receives support not only from his countrymen but also from his state which once again became the Ukrainian thanks to the Revolution of Dignity and the courageous confrontation of Russia's aggression. It turns out that not only volunteers in the Eastern frontlines and in the rear fought for the modern Ukrainian state but also political Kremlin captives, some of them as are well-known as Oleg Sentsov and some as little-known as Yuriy Yatsenko, risking their lives. This film which importantly has no marks of any propaganda shows how people with the strength of spirit become role-model examples and how a moral person can overcome a monstrous country, but only in interaction with friends, colleagues and all civilized humanity.
Vitaliy Nechyporenko
