Ukrainian directors Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, and Simon Mozgovyi present their take on the war with Militantropos. The word, which appears after the title cards, comes from the Latin word Milit (soldier) and the Greek Antropos (human). The film uses the combination of those words to formulate its thesis on how each citizen becomes a vector in the war. In this sense, the camera documents the daily activities of the soldiers, both in the front and in formation, to create a more profound comprehension of the ongoing suffering of army duty. Hence, Gorlova, Smith, and Mozgovyi join the daily efforts and activities of multiple lines of work, including those of firefighters and various army branches.
A comparison to other documentaries about the Ukrainian aggression is inevitable while watching Militantropos. For example, The Invasion by Sergei Loznitsa features a similar approach to its documentation, while it follows the routine of the Ukrainians who are not on the battlefield. Yet, both films show similar landscapes and destroyed buildings, such as a bridge that is in its middle has been destroyed. Visually, Loznitsa chooses a somber tone, while the trio in this film manipulates the light and uses more cinematic lenses to approach war. However, the most considerable difference between the two films is the subject focus. While they focus on the routine, The Invasion chooses to follow the civilian population, and Militantropos points its cameras at the soldiers.
The trio of directors aims to portray the mundane aspects of wartime. We see a soldier narrating a poem he wrote to a camera and his tent partner filming and complimenting the lyricism of his writing. In a single line of dialogue, we understand his desires: he wants to write a poetry book. But also, time does not allow that. The Russian invasion postponed the plans of thousands of soldiers. Plenty of them will never make their dreams come true, as death is imminent. The cinematic approach, employed on a day-to-day basis, enables us to comprehend the grandeur of the conflict and its impact on the destiny of the combatants.
Inherent to the observational style is the distant portrayal of its subjects. Even though we follow them in our daily routine, we lack a deeper connection with those soldiers, firefighters, and other workers in the line of duty.
The contemplative element of the war tires the audience due to the constant representation of events in the screen that shows an aggravating suffering and pain. It is a distant approach from the focal points, as it attempts to escape the journalistic essence of war documentaries. The popularization of these documentary models in the pre-World War II. In this sense, Why We Fight from the 1940s by Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak is a counter-response to the German propagandist machinery. The film series would influence the upcoming production of a documentary regarding conflicts and how we register war efforts. In this sense, Militantropos looks forward to analyzing the intentions of the soldiers and humanizing them. Also, it is a counter-response to Russian propaganda, which focuses primarily on pointing the war offensive towards the justifying of the supremacists present in the army. In this particular film, the trio of directors studies the differences between the soldier and human. It looks forward to humanizing and accompanying the military soldier, as the title suggests, and its rooting throughout the war duration.
Militantropos thrives in distancing from the journalistic route and exploring the cinematic possibilities of imagery. The cinematography work by Viacheslav Tsvietkov, Khrystyna Lyzohub, and Denys Melnyk use lenses that provide a different texture to the images. In a sense, it is a refined work on the screen. It offers pristine color grading and is raw at the same time. Consequently, it is cinematic and natural at the same time. You identify it as a film drifting itself from the journalistic route and investing in a sophisticated misé-in-scene to denounce an invasion. It provides differentiation from the dozens of other films about the war, which usually deliver a cinema verité approach. Thus, even though it lacks a more prominent emotional attachment to its core, the imagery exposes much about the decay of the mental state of the militantropos. It rhymes with the moments in the tents and training with large tractors digging holes in the cemetery.In Militantropos, a trio of young directors gathers their forces to examine the figure of the humane soldier. Even though it lacks an emotional structure, it has a more profound impact on the audience. The imagery provides a chilling examination of war and the devastation of the ground and hearts of the soldiers.
Militantropos recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
You might also like…
