Recommendations from the Kyiv Independent: ‘Real’ by Oleh Sentsov (Patreon)

Dear Kyiv Independent community members,

This is Mykolaj Suchy, researcher at KI Insights, writing to you from Kyiv. This week I attended the Ukrainian premiere of Oleh Sentsov’s newest film “Real.” This film isn’t easy to watch, but if you can, please see it. 

The film is a single, uncut shot taken from Sentsov’s helmet-mounted GoPro, capturing an hour and a half of his time working on the front line. The film’s big question is the same for the soldiers being filmed as it is for the viewers in the theater: “What the f*ck is going on?”

In his introduction to the film, Sentsov says (roughly) that the film has no beginning, middle, or end. Just chaos, no plot. The whole film takes place in a single trench. Never do we leave the trench or peek over the top. Never do we see shooting, enemies, or blood.

A lot happens, but there isn’t exactly a plot. Mostly, we listen to Sentsov talk through the radio and try to figure out what's happening. Radio and trench chatter provide confusing and sometimes contradictory answers to important questions: “When is ammo and evacuation coming? Whose drone is above us? Which direction to friends and which direction to the enemy?”

Recently, my friend Ruben was wounded in an unsuccessful assault. When I asked him what happened, he forwarded me a video from a Russian Telegram channel. I watched as Russian drones dropped grenades on Ruben and his friend (who cooked me dinner a few weeks ago). Ruben was lucky, his friend was not. The video had post-production flames added and was set to epic rock music.

If “war porn” and snuff films bring the war home, “Real” does the opposite — it takes us to the front line. There, we meet characters, mostly through the radio, who are real people. People who are afraid, people who make mistakes, people who are doing their best to fight for their lives. As we peer through their eyes into the fog of war, we see not only chaos and fear, but also courage. Real courage.

“Real” is screening internationally at film festivals and is not yet widely available. While we wait for the film’s wider release, I recommend learning more about Senstov and viewing his other works, which are widely available on Ukrainian streaming services.