Russian director Anastasia Trofimova’s film “Russians to War” was withdrawn from screening at the Toronto Film Festival. I will say right away that I have not seen the film. I read only reviews and one interview with the director. Followed the events surrounding this show.
In 2023, Trofimova spent seven months at the front with a battalion of the Russian Armed Forces. She made a completely anti-war film. In the style of Jericho Maria Remarque. Russian soldiers appear in it as ordinary people. They show normal emotions uncharacteristic of violent invaders. Sometimes they are disappointed with the authorities, they do not understand what they are fighting for, but they go on assaults and think about their patriotism. They often mention families, friends, the dead, the wounded, the “citizen”… cats… dogs.
According to the idea, the film is built in the best humanistic traditions and should arouse disgust from war. But there is one but. He promotes a dangerous Russian narrative that the Russians want to infect the free world with. And the point is not even that the Russian military are shown as ordinary people. The viewer can see manifestations of the usual character traits of the aggressors: humanity, kindness, and anger. But the main malicious message is behind the scenes. I saw him in an interview.
Quotes “It seems to me that now it is impossible to choose a warring side. If you choose a side, you are for war.” Is this familiar? As the slogan of Putin’s propagandists reminds us: “By helping the Kyiv regime with weapons, the West is prolonging the war!”.
“When I immersed myself in the current conflict, my country and people became more understandable and close to me.” So, there is no aggressor and victim in this war. There is a conflict! How convenient.
“- Did you understand who is to blame for this war?
– I still have a lot of questions about how it all happened. This is clearly a failure of diplomacy. Any war is a failure of diplomacy. But I can say that little people usually don’t decide anything.” That’s it! It turns out that Ukrainian diplomacy could not prevent the war. She did not show proper contractual capacity.
The red thread running through this film is the idea of the joint responsibility of the parties for this war. As if it was unleashed not by maniacs from the Kremlin, but by ghostly politicians who do not understand the suffering of people on both sides.
The fact that the film was removed from screening is a great achievement of Ukrainians abroad, especially in Canada. Canadian media, experts, public. The organizing committee of the festival kept on the defensive for a long time under the pretext of “we need to hear different opinions”.
This quote once again reveals flaws and cracks in Western democracy, which are immediately used by “haroshie ruskie” (good Russians). They are trying to convince the West that “not everything is so clear-cut.” That there are ordinary people who suffer. Maybe they suffer. But most Russians want to suffer. It is easier for them to go through the agony of war than to ask themselves and their authorities what they are doing in this war. Why are they dying there? Who sent them there and for what purpose?
Anastasia Trofimova does not answer these questions. There will be many more such “trophy” ones. And not only in cinematography. Let’s be vigilant!
