Documentary sympathetic to Russian soldiers sparks anger in Venice

Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova has defended her film ‘Russians at War’ as an “attempt to see through the fog of war”.

A new film from Russian-Canadian documentary filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova has sparked a row at the Venice Film Festival for its sympathetic depiction of Russian soldiers on the frontline of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Trofimova spent seven months living with Russian troops on the frontline to create Russians at War which premiered out of competition at Venice. The filmmaker intends to change stereotypes around Russian soldiers in the West.
“In Russia, they are these heroes who never die. In the West, they are mostly war criminals, war criminals, war criminals,” Trofimova told the press ahead of her film’s premiere. “To me, the biggest shock was to see how ordinary they were. Absolutely ordinary guys with families, with a sense of humour, with their own understanding of what’s happening in this war.”
For Russians at War, Trofimova claims she worked without authorisation from the Kremlin to create the documentary. It depicts a battle-worn battalion as it moves across Ukraine, struggling with the mismanagement of the Russian armed forces.
Many of the soldiers admit to only fighting in the war for money, while others claim they are motivated by camaraderie. The film also follows a group of Russian medics collecting bodies of fellow troops.
The film has been criticised for featuring little insight into the actual fighting and no sense of the destruction to Ukraine wrought by Russia’s forces, as well as a Russian soldier dismissing accusations that the nation’s army has committed war crimes during its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk criticised the film’s screening on the Lido, writing: “A prime example of Russian propaganda at the Venice film festival. A documentary by the director who previously made films for RT that seeks to cover up Russian war crimes in Ukraine and describe Russian soldiers as ‘poor victims’ of the regime”.
Trofimova has said she didn’t witness any signs of war crimes during her time with Russian forces. “I think in Western media, that’s what Russian soldiers are associated with at this point, because there were no other stories. This is another story,” she told the press.
UNITED24, the government-run charity platform for Ukraine’s war efforts have responded to Trofimova’s claims on Twitter writing: “She obviously had overlooked events such as the bombing of Kyiv’s children’s hospital, widely condemned as a war crime. Trofimova also did not address the realities faced by Ukrainians living under Russian occupation in the regions she visited, raising concerns about the legality of her presence there under Ukrainian law.”
“Since the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, there have been a lot of bridges destroyed between Russia and the West,” Trofimova said. “I would like this film to be maybe not a bridge, but at least a rope I can throw across and to help us see each other.”
“Her remarks underscore a glaring omission: the voices of Ukrainians,” UNITED24 responded. “Her comments frame the war solely through the lens of Russian-Western relations, with little regard for the lived experiences of those in Ukraine, suggesting a narrative that ignores their suffering entirely.”
Ukrainian film producer Darya Bassel also criticised the film in a long post on Facebook, stating that Trofimova ignores Russia’s multiple invasions and wars, claiming her surprise at the Ukraine invasion is suspect and mislabels the invasion as a civil war.
“You will feel pity for the people depicted as dying in the film and for those we see crying for their loved ones. And you should — if you are a normal human being, you should feel pity, sadness, and emotion. However, it is also important to remember that these individuals joined the army that invaded an independent country, many of them willingly, as we learn from the film. You should also recall Bucha, Irpin, Mariupol, and the civilians who were murdered there. Remember the thousands of children who were illegally transported from Ukraine to Russia. While I’m writing this and while you’re reading it, missiles are striking Ukrainian cities. The buttons are pushed by ordinary Russians. Are their crimes any less significant simply because they claim to be unaware of why they are involved in this war?” Bassel writes.
Another documentary, Songs of Slow Burning Earth, has premiered at the festival and depicts the devastating effects of the Russian invasion on Ukrainian lives. Its director Olha Zhurba has also criticised the screening of Russians at War, saying: “I think Russian film-makers should … show the real face of the criminals of this war,” and that it was too soon to depict the aggressors in this conflict as sympathetic.