TIFF Film Review: "Donbass" ("Донбас") (2018).

From the director of Maidan comes Donbass (Донбас). This dark comedy drama film written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa. The film's thirteen segments explore a society that begins to degrade as the effects of propaganda and manipulation begin to surface in the Ukraine.

Beginning in March 2014, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, the Euromaidan movement and the annexation of Crimea, protests by both pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, commonly collectively called the "Donbass". The demonstrations escalated into an armed conflict between the 'separatist' forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and the Ukrainian government. Which saw the "humanitarian convoy", as dubbed by Russia, crossed the border into Ukrainian territory without permission of the Ukrainian government. Crossings occurred both in areas under the control of pro-Russian forces and in areas that were not under their control, such as the south-eastern part of Donetsk Oblast, near Novoazovsk. As a result, DPR and LPR insurgents regained much of the territory they had lost during the Ukrainian government's preceding military offensive. Russia's official position on the presence of Russian forces in Donbass has been vague. But in reality, the purpose of the 'separatists' is to take over Ukraine as a whole and the Ukrainian military forces are there to stop them. To preserve the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics so that it gives them a leverage in Ukrainian politics to stop the country from moving towards the west. In other words, the DNR are bargaining chips to drain Ukraine of its economy and resources so that the nation can not integrate into Europe. The conflict has resulted in more than twenty failed ceasefires, each intended to remain in force indefinitely, but none of them stopped the violence. This conflict has become the world's 'forgotten' war and is the most significant conflict fought on European soil since the break-up of Yugoslavia (1991-99).

The film features an ensemble cast of unknowns who play everything from a fake news crew member to a local deputy to a German Journalist to normal civilians affected by the war with family members torn by social status. Every character has their own personal hell. By the same merit, there can be a 'personal hell' for entire nations. Through the cast, we explore a myriad of diverse people in everyday roles and situations during the conflict. But the film lacks a protagonist or two who we can latch onto, pour our emotions onto and truly follow through it all.

Donbass is a brutally realist movie – at least at first – that takes its citizens and politicians on a pilgrimage into the vast, trackless forest of national suffering. All kinds of grim, including both the good and the bad kinds, the film from Belarus-born Loznitsa peers deep into the soul of the Russian-supported Donetsk People's Republic and finds there an unfathomable blackness. However, the film, at times, is Loznitsa's cri de cœur, both exhausted and exhausting.

Simon says Donbass (Донбас)receives:

Also, see my review for Maidan (Майдан).