Canadian-Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova spent several months incognito on the Ukrainian front with a Russian battalion, gleaning the unfiltered testimonies of soldiers from which she turned into a documentary, presented out of competition at the Venice Film Festival.
For more than two hours, “Russians at War” offers an exceptional and unvarnished portrait of soldiers who seem to many to have lost the meaning of their participation in this conflict.
Lacking equipment, they tinker with their own weapons, at their own risk and peril, even resorting to Soviet-era equipment. Chaining cigarettes and glasses of alcohol, they try to drown their dismay and sadness in the face of the endless tragedy of their comrades wounded or dead on the front.
“While politicians argue about who has the biggest balls, people continue to die,” says one of them, while another does not recognize himself in the reports of the official newspapers: “The media only lies.”
Author at her own risk of this extraordinary documentary with sometimes chilling overtones, Anastasia Trofimova, 37, answered questions from AFP on Thursday evening.
QUESTION: What struck you most during your several months of cohabitation with the soldiers of this Russian battalion?
ANSWER: For me, the biggest surprise was how ordinary these people are. They come from all walks of life. Some own businesses (…) and came to the front because of their ideological beliefs. Others are poor and came to the front because, for example, they wanted to find meaning in their lives. So it was a very eye-opening experience.
You almost expect to meet people who are very motivated to kill, but you don’t. You expect to meet people who are full of hate, but they aren’t. And often there is even a great sadness that this can happen.
There are so many people whose families have been torn apart by this conflict. And that’s the saddest part, because the most important bonds are the ones we have with each other as friends or family. Those bonds have been cut in two, and it’s very sad.
Q: What was the attitude of these soldiers towards the Russian authorities?
A: They never really criticized the Russian government as such, their criticism was that they do not recognize themselves in the stories broadcast by the media, whether Russian or Western. When they call home, they sometimes have to tell their parents to stop watching TV.
Q: How come the Russian army let you make this film, which doesn’t paint a very positive picture of it?
A: I never went there officially. (…) I was alone, I didn’t even have a press card at the time.
I went to the front and just asked the soldiers if I could film their stories and said: This is the greatest event in our modern history. Can I film you? They gave themselves to me and allowed me to stay.
I never expected to go this far. I didn’t expect to experience everything I experienced with them. And I don’t think any of us expected it, but they wanted to express themselves.
And when I expressed my concerns to them (“What about the consequences for you?”), their usual response was: “They won’t send us further than the front and we’re already there.” That wasn’t enough for me, so when I returned to Moscow, I had our film checked by three lawyers. (…) Because for me, the most important thing, as a documentary filmmaker, is to make sure that they don’t suffer any harm because of our work.
Q: Are you worried about the consequences for yourself of the broadcast of this documentary, which may not be appreciated by the Russian authorities?
A: That’s an excellent question. We’ll see what happens.
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