Bitva za našu Sovětskuju Ukrainu

Following the initial unstoppable German advance into the Soviet Union, the Germans lost the Battle of Stalingrad in January 1943, and it was the Red Army's turn to win one combat after the other. Numerous documentaries were made about the different theatres of war, and Bitva zu nashu sovetskuyu Ukrainu/The fight for our Soviet Ukraine (1943) by Alexander Dovzhenko is a nice case in point. The well-known filmmaker Dovzhenko, who previously made films like Arsenal (1928) and Zemlya/Earth (1930), was commissioned to visualise the triumphant comeback of the Red Army. So we see the heavenly Ukraine being "raped" by the Germans, with poetic images alongside war footage. The main feature is the battle for Charkov, which is elaborated with beautiful parallel edits. A striking element is that Dovzhenko does not avoid showing corpses, combined with images of Nazi atrocities. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)