Ukraine: The pity of war

This article was first published in The Prisma Multicultural Newspaper on November 11th 2024, where it can be read in full with images: https://theprisma.co.uk/2024/11/11/lesia-diak-the-pity-of-war/.

A film in which the trauma of separation from a partner brings the director to document the larger social traumas of separation of Ukrainian soldiers from their loved ones. It is not an anti-war film, - Ukraine has no choice but to resist -  but it refuses to turn away from the effects of war on families at home.

 Wilfred Owen’s poetry about the experience of total war in the trenches during World War 1 was a rejection of the heroic view of war and self-sacrifice for glory. After World War 2, it seemed that democratic socialism had no competitors, and the idea of the ‘end of history’ in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union, had the same belief that liberal democracy had triumphed. Since then, religion, nationalism and territorial ambitions have returned and once again the tectonic plates of empires are shifting. At the same time the consumer has replaced the citizen as the basic component of society, and ironic reflection not emotional depth is the preferred mode of the liberal intelligentsia.

The wars in Ukraine and Palestine are disrupting that.   

Lesia Diak received a special mention as a new director for her first full-length documentary at the DocLisboa festival last month. Her film “Dad’s Lullaby”, about the traumatic effects of the war in Ukraine on Serhiy, a returning soldier and his wife Nadiia, debuted at the Sarajevo Film Festival in August. It took three years to make and another four including raising funds. It maintains her interest in documenting issues involving personal trauma and healing, and the making of the film was a journey of reflection and to some extent of healing for both Lesia and Serhiy and Nadiia. Lesia hopes that her film may have some impact in helping communities and individuals to deal with the traumas of war and support each other.

Is it possible to choose a different title for the article? It is just that as Ukrainians we don't have a choice but to fight Russians to resists the genocide Russia is conducting agains us. That's why for us it is important to avoid anti war messages before the war is over. I understand, Graham, that it is your text and I am really sorry for asking about a different title