Valentyn Vasyanovych isn’t a filmmaker who is know to create simple and easy movies, and “To the Victory!” is no exception. The writer-director-editor-actor (yes, he does it all) has wrapped up his loose dystopian trilogy (“Atlantis,” “Reflection”) with an interesting project that’s part comedy, part tragedy, and all heartbreak. It’s set in Ukraine’s liberated but broken post-war future, daring to ask the question nobody really wants to face: what happens after “victory?”
Vasyanovych plays Roman, a filmmaker and veteran living in Kyiv with his teenage son while his wife and young daughter are still in Vienna and have no plans to come back to a country with shaky politics and rocky economy. Roman insists on staying put in the country he fought for, but his resolve starts to crack as he watches his family slip further away and his dreams of making films again feel more impossible by the day.
Like his earlier work, Vasyanovych’s film is quiet, slow, and visually stunning. There are plenty of long, still shots that make you sit with the discomfort. There are moments of dry humor that add some levity, especially in Roman’s conversations with his friend Vlad and with his aging father, who has seen too much to sugarcoat anything. These little moments keep the movie from sinking into pure despair, even though it’s often bleak.
What’s striking is how honest the narrative feels. This is a story that addresses the messy, painful aftermath of war, including families split apart, people torn between leaving and staying, and the hard truth that winning on the battlefield doesn’t automatically fix a country.
“To the Victory!” is sad, funny in unexpected spots, and painfully real. By the time characters raise a toast “to the victory,” it doesn’t feel like a triumph, and it certainly isn’t comforting. This is complex storytelling that really makes you think.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 