10 Movies to Help the West Understand Why Ukraine Will Not Lose to Russia

In case you want to know how the heck these seemingly weak Ukrainians are kicking Russia’s ugly butt, just know that there’s history. Here are some great documentaries and fiction movies that will help you put this horrible war into context.

1. The Legend of Princess Olga (1983)

Director Yuri Ilyenko presented his views on several well-known historical events, including Olga’s revenge on the Drevlians for the murder of her husband, Igor. The story relies on chronicles and legends, but Illyenko makes it clear that the plot about revenge is mostly a myth. Because if you tie burning cloths to a bunch of pigeons, they will probably not fly to their nests, as the chronicle says. But it’s important to remember that hell hath no fury like a Ukrainian woman scorned.

2. Famine-33 (1991)

Famine-33 is the first feature film about the Holodomor of 1932–1933 based on Vasyl Barka’s novel The Yellow Prince, in which a Ukrainian peasant family is trying to survive a famine. The film also speaks of the Soviet Bolsheviks’ rise to power on the territory of Ukraine. The Soviet authorities never admitted to the horrors of genocide, blaming the famine on the drought. However, in reality, millions of Ukrainians died of hunger as the result of collectivization and purposeful measures of the Soviet leadership led by Stalin to weaken the national liberation uprisings and finally establish Soviet power in Ukraine. More than 4 million people died as a result of the Holodomor.

3. War. Ukrainian Account (2002)

This is a 9-episode documentary film by Serhiy Bukovsky about Ukraine in World War II. In this mini-series, the director used a huge number of newsreels of the war and postwar years, as well as eyewitness accounts, often very horrifying and contradictory to the general narrative.

4. Winter on Fire (2015)

This is a documentary about the “Revolution of Dignity” in Ukraine during the winter of 2013-2014 by American director Eugene Afineevsky. The film contains many interviews with protesters, doctors, priests, and artists who were on the Maidan trying to topple the pro-russian government.