The Venice Film Festival showed a film titled, “Russians at War”, by Russian director Anastasia Trofimova. She has a Western-style education and made films previously for the propaganda organization RT (Russia Today). There’s a lot that’s wrong with this.
Trofimova claims she spent seven months working “without authorization” in the combat zone of Ukraine with a Russian Armed Forces Battalion.
“The biggest shock for me was seeing how simple [Russian soldiers] were. The director told journalists that the Russian soldiers were “absolutely ordinary guys” with families, sense of humor and their own understanding of the war.
She said that although these people may not understand the reasons behind the war, they went to battle because they had lost someone and it is now “a matter of revenge.”
Reuters notes that this film only shows a few glimpses of actual battles, and does not give any insight into the destruction Russia has caused in Ukraine.
Trofimova, at a press conference, was asked if it is ethical to “humanize” Russian soldiers given the many war crimes that have been committed. She called it “a strange question” and suggested that everyone should be “humanized” because it’s a great tragedy “for our region.”
She also said that she “didn’t see any signs” of war crimes while living with the Russian units. Trofimova urged people not to “think with black-and-white stereotypical thinking” as this would lead to the continuation and prolongation of the war. This is the “path taken by politicians,” but “ordinary people” shouldn’t do it.
Daria Bassel, a Ukrainian producer, saw Trofimova’s film at Venice and wrote this review.
This film may make you think it is anti-war or questions the current regime of Russia. What I saw was a clear example of Russian propaganda.
Here are some key points from Daria’s observations.
* The Russian director did not mention the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine until 2022, and only became aware in 2022.
* Trofimova claims her country hasn’t been involved in wars for a long time and that she reads about wars only in books. This is despite Russia invading at least Transnistria and Abkhazia in the past 30 years, as well as Chechnya in Georgia and Syria.
* The film shows a Ukrainian fighting for Russia, claiming there is a civil conflict in Ukraine and that Ukraine has bombed its eastern regions. Another character tells the classic Russian story about Ukrainian Nazis.
* The heroes in the film are poor ordinary Russians, who fight for money only, don’t understand the purpose of war, cry over the dead and are manipulated by politicians.
“Russians at War”, a documentary about the war in Russia, will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. On the festival website, the documentary is described as “engaging” and revealing the truth about the conflict that is not seen in Russian media.
The truth is, however, that stories about “innocent Russians” are lulling the world and making people forget who is driving Russia’s war to annihilation.
We hope that both the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and MFA of Ukraine engage in this fight.
Illustration: A still from the movie “Russians at War”.
Institute of Mass Information
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