Keleti front

No, this really isn’t just a collection of vlogs. In fact, Manskyj elevates Titarenko’s raw footage of hell and limbo into an artfully rhythmic and graduated account of the war’s impact on the ordinary lives of a few volunteers in a medical unit. At the same time, he manages to sneak in a full range of interesting secondary topics, dominated by his long-time obsession with “the traces of empire”, into the regular alternation of footage from the battlefield and documentary scenes from the rear. The infernal scenes from the front form a chilling counterpoint to the raw testimonies of Ukrainian and Russian identity from the idyllic environment of the rear. The quiet power of Eastern Front consists precisely in the fact that it does not try to stylize or incite, but instead lets authentic scenes and utterances resound. After the initial feeling that it was going to be nothing more than topical reporting, I left Eastern Front with an oppressive, hopeless feeling that endlessly scrolling through Twitter videos doesn’t really provide. This is the kind of documentary that was needed! (2023.04.15)