2000 Meters to Andriivka (15)
Directed by Mstyslav Chernov
★★★★

“FINALLY only the names of places had dignity,” Ernest Hemingway’s observation from A Farewell To Arms, is flashed across the screen as a preamble.

2000 Meters to Andriivka was filmed by Mstyslav Chernov “on location” during the largely failed Ukrainian counter-offensive of 2023 and charts the advance of a unit of Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade towards the town of Ardiivka.

The arduous assault is made via a narrow strip of shrubland and across a green moonscape of battle craters. “Three months to cover two kilometres?” reflects one of the soldiers quizzically.

Before the war, Ardiivka had the largest coke plant in Ukraine and was home to over 37,000 people of whom 63 per cent identified as Ukrainian, 34 per cent as Russian, with a sprinkling of Greeks and Belarusians. Over 87 percent spoke Russian.

Today the 900 or so who remain eke out a living among the apocalyptic ruins surveyed for the film by a high-flying drone.

Although matter-of-fact, an air of futility and desperation, perhaps unintended, prevails and is reminiscent of Erich Maria Remarque’s seminal novel. “How long can you put up with this humiliation?” a soldier is heard imploring.

Despite the momentary rushes of adrenaline, the swearing, the dramatically effective numeric countdown of the advance and the placing of the cherished flag, there is a deep-seated uncertainty and lingering sorrow that ultimately are never resolved as death keeps intervening.

“What if the war lasts until the end of our lives,” ponders a young soldier in a forlorn voice, when asked by a mate to cheer-up at sunset after a largely symbolic liberating of the outskirts of Ardiivka. It turns out to be a rhetorical question as it’s answered with silence.

“Everything will grow back,” we hear another comment and yes, it will, as it always has.

The vox pop approach and intimacy conjured in the close-quarters filming are effective, if repetitive, and bring to mind the award winning Lebanon (2009) directed by Samuel Maoz.

A platoon leader confesses to having nightmares about battles which extend, when he wakes, into the horrors of real combat. As general William Sherman said: “War is Hell!”

In the concluding frames the brigade, standing to attention by camp fires, hears the roll call of those killed answering, each time, “Present!”

It would be perhaps apt to recall, for a moment, Bertrand Russell reflection: “War does not determine who is right — only who is left.”
MB
In cinemas August 1

Savages (12A)
Directed by Claude Barras
★★★★

FROM the director of My Life as a Courgette comes an equally captivating and thought-provoking animated feature about the environmental dangers of deforestation, and how nomadic communities are being ousted by land-grabbing companies. 

Set in Borneo at the edge of the tropical forest, it follows Keria who befriends a baby orangutan she names Oshi, rescued from the oil palm plantation where her father works after Oshi’s mother was shot. When her cousin Selai comes to stay it makes Keria confront her nomadic roots as the pair, together with Oshi, team up to prevent logging companies from cutting down more of the tropical forest and taking the land. Nomadic protesters are told that without an ID card they cannot lodge a formal complaint. 

This is a gorgeous and stunning coming-of-age stop-motion animation, featuring an adorably cute baby orangutan, which explores serious social and environmental issues from a child’s perspective. Co-writer-director Claude Barras has described it as Heidi meets The Jungle Book. 

It also examines the clash between technological modernity and the “old ways.” 

A must-see film which is being released in both subtitled and dubbed versions. 
MD
In cinemas August 1

The Legend of Ochi (12A)
Directed by Isaiah Saxon
★★★

MYSTICAL and haunting, this surreal, larger-than-life fantasy adventure is an audacious debut feature by writer/director Isaiah Saxon. 

Set in a remote village on the island of Carpathia, it centres on a young girl Yuri (an impressive Helena Zengel) who is taught by her bonkers and militant father (Willem Dafoe on top crazy form) to fear and hunt mythical creatures known as the Ochi. When she discovers an injured baby Ochi, whose mother has been shot, she forms a kinship and decides to reunite it with its family. They are then hunted down by her father and his band of weird teenage soldiers and Ochi hunters. 

While sparse on story, the stunning state-of-the-art puppetry and visual effects lift this film to truly fantastical heights. The life-like baby Ochi is adorable yet disturbing in a Mogwai/Gremlin way. 

It is a bizarre and unfortunate coincidence that Yuri’s befriending of this orphaned creature and his backstory bear an uncanny resemblance to Savages. 
MD 
In cinemas August 1

The Naked Gun (15)
Directed by Akiva Schaffer 
★★★★

THIS has to be one of the dumbest yet funniest films of the year, which had me crying with laughter, to my own dismay. 

It certainly captures the spirit of The Naked Gun franchise, as Liam Neeson plays Lt Frank Drebin’s (Leslie Nielsen) son, Frank Drebin Jr, in this legacy sequel and the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Although he does bring his own particular set of skills to heading up Police Squad. A phenomenal Pamela Anderson plays his sultry paramour, who asks him to investigate her brother’s murder. 

Parodying film noir, the humour is as silly and as obvious as in the original films to which it pays homage, and the visual gags are priceless including a surreal threesome.

Action star Neeson, who is clearly having a blast here, shows he has a bright future in comedy. 
MD
In cinemas August 1