The Distant Barking of Dogs

This is a quiet, poignant portrait of a family living in Hnutove, close to the frontline of the War in Donbas, Ukraine.

It follows Oleg, a young boy who lives with his grandmother in a small village now largely emptied of residents.

There is little for a young boy to do here, beyond roaming the wide meadows and derelict buildings. But children find a way to entertain themselves, even in the worst of times, as Oleg and his cousin Yarik prove.

His grandmother is the rock of the family, though she still shakes at the sound of bombs dropping nearby (and hides this from the children by keeping her hands busy cleaning). Indeed, in this documentary, the conflict is largely heard and felt, rather than seen. But you sense its ever-present danger, and how that has shaped village life, including Oleg's lessons at school.

The footage is occasionally punctuated by narration from Oleg's grandmother, and I found this particularly insightful:

"War comes with seasons of its own. Like the Harvest Ceasefire, the Beginning of the School Year Ceasefire, and the Easter Ceasefire, too. Hope blossoms again - like greens ready to be.pickled in a glass jar. After the season passes, we savour these memories."

This documentary gives us a glimpse of what it's like to live through these seasons; to be ordinary people in an extraordinary time, "living between two fires". And it's all the more tragic for knowing that in 2017 the worst was yet to come.

The war in Ukraine is a terrible thing, and for the residents of Donbas, it's been going on since 2014. But 'The Distant Barking of Dogs' is not a brilliant documentary. It follows a family, trying to stay put amid the warzone. Their lives are lonely and bleak. But the film doesn't provide any context or narrative. It's also slightly ethically dubious, as the film-makers point their cameras (and otherwise appear to do nothing) as a child injures himself playing with a gun. The most interesting scenes are those that occur in school, which provde some insight into the societal (as opposed to the merely individual) response.

I don't know what can be the best way to explain a war or armed conflict but this documentary is a great example about how to visualize it.

This piece is basically showing us it is possible to make a film about ongoing clashes without showing any close combat, still holding all the tension, being anxious, and most importantly how does it feel to be a child while hearing bombardments all day long.

That piece is not trying to abuse your emotions through children, it is a honest piece about growing up, being family, protecting each other and dealing with fear while all those bombs are barking at your backyard.