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Critics’ Choice
Maciek Hamela’s documentary offers a compelling view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine through the stories of people fleeing the country in a van.
By Nicolás Rapold
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Maciek Hamela’s insightful documentary “In the Rearview” places us in a van transporting Ukrainian equipment from conflict zones to safe places. This undeniable point of view, along with scenes of pick-up and drop-off on the road, captures the moments when life ended and the fatal chaos. The Russian invasion began.
Filmed in 2022 while Hamela volunteered as an evacuation driver, the van passes checkpoints, burned cars and destroyed buildings while avoiding mined roads and bombed bridges. But the van offers an area where passengers can communicate about who and what they left behind, sleep or just sit in silence.
Instead of focusing on danger, those serial portraits of ordinary Ukrainians — family members dressed conscientiously for the cool weather, with a few belongings or a cat — show others who have made the decision to leave but are still figuring out what it means. middle.
Travelers, young and old, tell what happened in short, passionate monologues: a lost husband, a surrogate pregnancy abandoned in a clinic, an abandoned cow or torture at the hands of the enemy. The young look like cherubs but glassy; Spontaneously, a young woman reflexively hands a paper containing her credentials to someone in the front of the van.
Many passengers appear to be heading toward the Polish border from remote Ukrainian villages. But the truck’s familiar interior underscores how many millions of people in history have had to flee military aggression. Hamela’s paintings as a conductor and documentarian reflect this truth while offering a spirit of resilience.
In the rearview mirrorUnrated. In Ukrainian, Polish, Russian and French, with subtitles. Duration: 1 hour 24 minutes. In theaters and available for rent or purchase on most major platforms.
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