‘Bucha’, the first film recorded in Ukraine after the start of the invasion, arrived this Tuesday in Brussels, in the heart of the European Unionto draw the attention of community leaders and citizens to the “horrors” with which they live Ukrainians since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“For us, bringing this film to the European Parliament – the place where the film was screened – is very important, it is a way to resist against Russian propaganda. Our film is based on real events, so it tells the reality of the situation of Ukrainians,” the producer and screenwriter of the feature film told EFE. Oleksandr Shchur.
Screening the film in Brussels aims call for political action to the leaders of the European Union and bring the gaze of Europeans towards a conflict that, almost three years after its beginning, has lost certain informative interest in a world that consumes content immediately and through information bubbles, as they argued. to EFE sources from the project organization.
“The main message we would like to give with this film is related to Dante’s famous phrase, ‘The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.’ That is the message we would like to give with this film, you can’t stay neutral if there’s someone killing people,” he said.
A movie, not a documentary
‘Bucha’ narrates the true story of a refugee from Kazakhstan who in the spring of 2022 risked his life to save hundreds of Ukrainians in the northwestern district of kyiv with this name – sadly recognized for the massacre of civilians that was discovered after his liberation after a month of war – and in other cities and towns occupied by Russian troops.
“We chose this story because the protagonist is a Jew from Lithuania who received asylum in Ukraine and, once the war started, he decided to stay. He could have returned to his country, but he did not. When Ukrainians fight for their nation, it is normal. But if someone from outside does it, this has a great impact on public opinion,” the scriptwriter specified.
During the two hours that the film lasts, the protagonist will observe, and with him the spectators who go to the cinemas, “the horrors of the war and the atrocities of the Russian occupation” that have been happening in Ukraine since last February 2022. .
“This is a message not only for people outside, but also for Ukrainians. Our idea was not simply to show the nightmare that happened in Bucha, but also show an interesting story. That’s why we didn’t make a documentary, we decided to make a film to differentiate ourselves from other productions and show through this format what happened,” he stressed.
“We continue fighting because we have no other option”
‘Bucha’ is, according to its producer, a work that wants to show why the Ukrainian population continues to fight and resist.
“There are many people who argue that Ukraine does not want peace because it does not surrender, because it continues with the war. The problem is that Russia does not want peace for Ukraine, Russia wants to conquer Ukraine. We want to show that we continue fighting because we have no other option,” he said.
The team that made the film possible was made up of more than a hundred people necessary for the recording and about two hundred actors, mostly Ukrainians.
The recording of the feature film took place from March to April of last 2023, just one year after the start of the conflict, a fact that It allowed them to develop the film in the “closest to reality” way.
One of the big obstacles they faced during the recording due to the war situation was working with drones.
“In Ukraine, if you want to work with drones right now you have to have a lot of permissionsthe armed forces, the police or the neighbors themselves. If someone sees a drone, they will think they are Russian forces and try to shoot at it. That was a problem for shots from the air, of course,” the filmmaker acknowledged.
Shchur explained that he also they had difficulties to find people who wanted to give life to Russian characters, because neither the Ukrainian actors nor the Russian performers themselves wanted to do it.
The result of this cinematographic work that required seventy-nine days of recording is a film full of “hope, courage” that sends a message of struggle for freedom.
