The Invasion

Sergei Loznitsa observes in commentary-free scenes the impact of the Russian invasion on every aspect of daily life in Ukraine. The war affects the population in countless ways, but does not affect their courage and resilience.

News reports on the war in Ukraine mainly show the horrors on the front lines. Sergei Loznitsa takes a different approach with The Invasion. In commentary-free scenes, the film observes the daily life of a country at war. The impressive prologue follows a 15-minute mourning ceremony for four fallen soldiers, setting the tone for what is to come: a film in which war is visible and palpable in all aspects of everyday life.

As explicitly as in that funeral scene, the Russian invasion also manifests itself in images of schoolchildren in a bomb shelter, rehabilitating soldiers with amputated limbs and an apartment building shot into rubble where rescue workers desperately search for survivors. But the misery of war is also palpable at a wedding, at which the groom wears a soldier's uniform. What does the future look like for this bride and groom? Fear and uncertainty, by the way, do not stand in the way of militancy. The Invasion, for which the footage was shot over a period of almost two years, shows a courageous and resilient people, who will not let their independence be taken away.