'To the Victory!' is Valentyn Vasyanovych's newest slow-cinema "dystopia" about a post-war Ukraine and the crises it faces. Unfortunately, while technically it is a dystopian film with a dystopian narrative, it strives much closer to reality than it's comfortable to admit, but Vasyanovych does miracles with such a narrative, as his usual sorrowful slow cinema with minimal camera movement and scarred characters gets invaded by a huge chunk of humor and meta-elements. Which results in 'To the Victory!' being Vasyanovych's most personal and intimate work to date, but with engraved commentary on the global state of his nation. And the personal against the global both contrast and add to each other in a perfect, confusing way. You add the meta elements when you don't know what to expect from the next scene and the complexities and confusion just grow more, and this pacing and structure of the film can't be a better reflection of life in Ukraine, whether it's a future dystopia or today's exact date.But aside from the political side of things, I want to focus on the meta-elements a bit more, as Valentyn Vasyanovych, the director of 'To the Victory!' transforms into Valentyn Vasyanovych, who is about to direct a film called 'To the Victory!' within this film. Can't 100% assure you if it's more or less confusing in the film, but as already established, I think the confusion works in favor of the political commentary and some genuine humorous aspects. But anyway, seeing Vasyanovych playing himself as this heavily passionate about cinema guy who puts his bonds with his wife and daughter (who have migrated to Vienna) in favor of making cinema couldn't be more relatable. He's sure that he wouldn't be able to make a film outside of Ukraine; that artist and their motherlands go hand-in-hand no matter what, and while it seems like a minor line of dialogue inside the movie itself, it's definitely something that moves the plot entirely.And it makes the movie painful. But funny! It's a biting satire at times but also a rough call to wake up at others. Family dynamics and the migration crisis from Ukraine are also at the very center of the story, and Vasyanovych picks up on them with emotions that are quite hard to explain. And as a Ukrainian, it did feel like this movie takes a somewhat fatherly role in the landscape of Ukrainian cinema, if that makes sense? I doubt that Vasyanovych even intended it, but the frequent changes between actually funny comedy and the family dramas and the realistic concerns about Ukraine and its future feel like a man who can goof around with you one moment and make you realize something painful about the environment you live in soon after.So to sum up in a few sentences without getting too carried away, 'To the Victory!' is a charming but also realistic, laugh-out-loud satire that explores multiple themes at once and does justice to all of them. A seemingly dystopian, but actually humane and intimate, diary of a filmmaker, and not any filmmaker but Valentyn Vasyanovych, whom I'd consider one of the best and most interesting filmmakers in Europe working right now, and I don't know if there's anything more exciting and heartfelt and great and devastating and funny that you can possibly think of. Exquisite stuff.
