‘To The Victory!’ review: Toronto’s Platform winner blends fact and fiction in a near-future Ukraine

Dir/scr: Valentyn Vasyanovych. Ukraine/Lithuania. 2025. 105mins

The exclamation mark within the title of Valentyn Vasyanovych’s near-future set drama might be seen to be ironic; the purpose made on this story of a filmmaker navigating an imagined post-war Ukraine is that the top of combating won’t convey computerized peace. However there’s additionally a defiance, a willpower that nevertheless the continued battle with Russia involves an finish, Ukraine will stay standing. The movie has an ideological and inventive boldness, along with a well-balanced mix of humour and pathos.

 A well-balanced mix of humour and pathos

There have been a plethora of documentaries and options coping with struggle in Ukraine however not so many who think about a life past the combating, which ought to assist To The Victory! stand out in a crowded subject. It’s the third in Vasyanovych’s so-called ‘dystopian’ trilogy, following 2019 Venice Horizons winner Atlantis, which was additionally set in a fictional post-war Jap Ukraine, and 2022 Venice competitors title Reflections, a few Ukrainian soldier captured by Russian forces. This movie’s Toronto Platform win ought to garner consideration, and its heat performances and lightness of contact are more likely to endear it to distributors and audiences alike.

A title card tells us it’s one 12 months after the struggle, a radio broadcast that it’s October 2026 – and that the nation’s inhabitants is lower than 30 million as many Ukranians have fled abroad, numerous households being cut up up within the course of. That features the household of Valyk (performed by Vasyanovych himself), a proud Ukrainian filmmaker who needs to remain in his homeland, although his spouse and teenage daughter have made a brand new life for themselves in Vienna.

This did, actually, occur to Vasyanovych’s family, and to lots of his pals, and there’s a distinct blurring of truth and fiction all through To The Victory!. The director performs with viewers notion proper from an prolonged opening sequence by which Valyk and his teen son Yaroslav (Hryhoriy Naumov) chat on the kitchen desk. Immediately, a voice yells ‘reduce’ and crew members swarm the kitchen to reset. What we have now been watching is a sequence from Valyk’s upcoming movie. However, as Valyk has roped his personal reluctant son in to star alongside him, it’s additionally consultant of the true friction that exists on this fractured household.

This generational stress turns into key to Vasyanovych’s screenplay. Valyk and his getting older father – with whom, in tender, humorous scenes, he visits the graves of assorted members of the family – have a deep connection to Ukraine, and need to be buried there. The directionless Yaroslav and his gig-economy pals appear much less excited by setting down roots. The struggle, after all, has additional weakened that bond to the homeland.

Working with a skeleton crew who take roles on either side of the digital camera, Vasyanovych builds his story in light layers – the annoyed artistic selecting between his work and his household; the households torn aside by battle; the fixed lure of a extra settled life abroad – to color a delicate image of the after-effects of battle. He by no means feels the necessity to widen out to Ukraine’s war-torn landscapes, somewhat retains the give attention to the day by day trivialities of Valyk’s life. That’s underscored by the unfussy locked-off lengthy takes favoured by Vasyanovych who, as normal, serves as DOP right here, this time alongside Mykhailo Lubarsky.

There may be an ironic tone right here that goes past the title, the movie acknowledging the inherent self-centredness of a person who would somewhat observe his creative imaginative and prescient than his household. A self-reflective humour infuses scenes by which we see Valyk making his movie, directing his actors or speaking to digital camera. A standout sequence sees him giving a video interview to a half-full auditorium at a European movie pageant; after Valyk passionately shares his motivations and sense of helplessness in Ukranian, the moderator responds by asking him to talk in English.

Such moments would appear to talk to the futility of his endeavours, but additionally spotlight their terrific significance: as a filmmaker, that is the one language Valyk (and Vasyanovych) has with which to precise his emotions about this occasion that has consumed his complete life. It’s notable, nevertheless, that To The Victory! ends not with an excellent epiphany or rousing name to arms, however a longed-for second of quiet, on a regular basis contentment.