Slava Ukraini

From NY Times : "Slava Ukraini"- "Glory to Ukraine"- premiered in France on Feb. 22 and is expected to be released in the United States in the coming months. It was shot over the past year during more than 10 trips Lévy made to Ukraine. The film (Lévy's second about the conflict there) has garnered praise for its unflinching portrayal of the horrors of war. "Without a doubt, Lévy has never filmed and conveyed distress and death with such harshness and such relentless rawness," observed L'Express, the influential French magazine."In Ukraine, I had the feeling for the first time that the world I knew, the world in which I grew up, the world that I want to leave to my children and grandchildren, might collapse," he said during an interview at the Carlyle Hotel in New York earlier this month.

Most media coverage about the war in Ukraine - where most of us get our news about the conflict - comes down to a recitation of facts and figures, with the biggest and most dramatic stories receiving virtually all of the attention. But how does the war impact the nation's citizens at the personal level? What's more, we hear so much about the unity of Ukraine's residents in combatting their Russian foes, but in what ways does that commitment materialize? Those are the questions that French writer-director-philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy has sought to address in his thoughtful new first-person documentary about how the hostilities have affected the country's civilians, soldiers, laborers and spiritual leaders. Through these individual stories, viewers learn of their triumphs, tragedies, hopes and dreams, not to mention their unwavering faith that Ukraine will emerge victorious, especially in the wake of a growing number of battlefield successes. Told as a sort of travelogue through the nation's various hot spots, including many on the front lines of the conflict, Lévy chronicles what has happened across Ukraine since the war's onset in February 2022, oftentimes brought down to a touching, intimately personal level. This is enhanced by the filmmaker's poetic narration, which, despite an occasional tendency to get a little too flowery and obscure in nature, puts these events into meaningful perspective, both in terms of what they mean for individuals and in larger terms morally and geopolitically. These observations draw significantly from history, showing parallels between the events in Ukraine and those that have unfolded on other conflict stages over the years, reminding us once again of the importance of learning from the past. When taken together, these elements combine to create a documentary that doesn't fit the standard mold but that enlightens us to a far greater degree than many other films addressing the subject of warfare. "Slava Ukraini" provides valuable insight into an event that has the potential to leave a significant and long-lasting impact not just on the residents of Ukraine and its neighbors but on the totality of humanity as well.

Is anybody at all surprised? The Russian special military operation looks like any other war so far. The lady who left the letter on Putin's parents graves had the right attitude about this. It has been said that an army loses gradually then all at once.

The director of this documentary focuses on a wonderful point, that it doesn't make any sense to go after a target with no strategic important like Bakhmut. Yet that is where the Russian army is focusing their effort. Sending endless waves of Ruscist soldiers to their death for a few meters of ground.

The troops that failed to take Vuhledar are now the ones that have retreated and exposed Prigozhin's Wagner Groups flanks.

It is such a tragedy for everyone involved. W should all hope that Putin's demise is the final chapter.

This is insane how society today have almost unlimited sources of information but we see someone rated this movie with the lowest score !! This is a sign for everyone that we are still having very big issues with dangerous propaganda and with a evil forces who will justify everything to achieve they evil goal !!! I can't understand how you can justify a war so easy without thinking about consequences and results ?!? All these are or very stupid brainwashed people or evil people with interests !! All such movies deserves 10 stars because it is a real problem of today society , but apparently society its very ill.

Glory to heroes !!

We saw "Slava Ukraini" today at Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale, the documentary from Jewish-French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy, who travels to different parts of Ukraine in the second half of 2022. A few of the scenes that stuck with me: 1) Levy in a trench with Ukrainian soldiers as he reflects in narration "on this archaic habit of men burying themselves so not to die." 2) Levy visits a Breslov synagogue in Uman that sheltered outsiders, an act that he says serves as "a magnificent rebuttal to Putin's propaganda about the inexpiable war between Ukraine and its Jews." 3) Many powerful scenes of Levy interviewing Ukrainians from liberated regions, and especially the visual of survivors in liberated Kherson gathering around generators to charge their phones, preparing to call people who may have been killed. The movie ended with a powerful message that we must fully support Ukraine and not let the West push them to acquiesce ceding any of their territory to Russia. I highly recommended seeing this film.