Is Sergei Loznitsa's "Donbass" (2018) Propaganda? | MovieMacro #7 | Alex Sheremet, Keith Jackewicz

Although it didn’t get much attention upon its release in 2018, Sergei Loznitsa's "Donbass" has enjoyed a resurgence, and a potential Criterion re-release in the future. Currently streaming on the Criterion Channel, "Donbass" is a black comedy split into 13 (or 17, depending on how it’s counted) loosely connected scenes depicting the Eastern Ukrainian territory in the midst of civil war. The scenes vary wildly in terms of staying power, from excellent writing to banal scripting, a good enigmatic opening and a bad, predictable ending, excellent cinematography with a purpose, to pretty window dressing without a reason.

In MovieMacro #7, Alex Sheremet and Keith Jackewicz of Automachination dissect the film’s inner workings and the political backdrop of the Donbass Civil War.

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Timestamps:

0:00 – dissecting claims of propaganda; can good art be propaganda; negative representations of Russian-speaking Ukrainians; Sergei Loznitsa’s accurate depiction of Russia’s POV on Donbass; ironies in Loznitsa’s biography

11:40 – the opening scene; crisis actors in John Cassavetes style banter; the enigma of the opening leads to predictability; false flags by Russians vs. false flags by Ukrainians; false flag paranoia; how ideology creates predictability & a poor film ending

22:14 – splitting Donbass; Russian-language vs. Ukrainian-language scenes; the Ukrainian-only scene in “Donbass” & Loznitsa’s implied commentary

28:18 – the maternity hospital; why the film title works so well; the long history of Donbass independence movements; the Ukrainian guard and separatist official are speaking in different languages to one another

37:55 – Loznitsa’s set-up for a great, writerly scene goes south; more John Cassavetes style banter between soldiers; Russians, Asians, & pickle juice

50:25 – the Donbass bomb shelter; why being sparing of detail works; linguistic vs. cultural mannerisms in Russia, Ukraine;

58:46 – final scenes: the beating / hazing of separatist soldiers; how the movie’s worst scene mirror peak anti-Trump, Resistance-era media of 2016-2017

Tags: #ukraine #movies #review