Filmmaker Elena Beuca travels to Ukraine from Romania in order to help where she can.
I loved Beuca's earlier narrative film D-LOVE about her and her husband's encounters with a young wanderer so when she asked if I wanted to see her document of the last year when she was volunteering in Ukraine I said yes.
Containing some incredible images of war and it's aftermath THY NEIGHBORS frequently shows the war in Ukraine in ways we haven't really seen before. There are images here that make your mouth hang open because they shot things in such a way that we truly get a sense of the war and the destruction. That's not an idle statement I've seen too many films on the war and there are images that are wholly unique.
Much of the film however is a record of both the plight of the people of Ukraine who are allowed to tell their stories and that of the volunteers who are risking their lives to bring aid to the people under siege. Its one of the first films on the subject that really lets us hear the stories of the people under attack by Russian forces. The stories will move you, even if you’ve seen other portraits of life under the gun.
I really liked this film.
I do have to say that if there is any real problem with the film it is that it is coming out in the middle of a glut of Ukraine documentaries. There seem to be several being dropped every month plus there is so much coverage on TV and in the media that many people are going to be burned out. This is not a knock against the film, rather it is a warning that if you want to see the film, and you should, it’s one of the few that give the people on screen full voice, you may have to jump when it plays near you, or that you simply may have to travel to see it since the people programming your local festivals may decide they've had enough on the subject.
Recommended.
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