Porcelain War follows Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov.Supplied
- Porcelain War
- Directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
- Featuring Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov
- Runtime 1 hour 27 minutes
Critic’s Pick
The opposite of war is art. That’s what the trio of Ukrainian artists at the centre of this radiant documentary believe; that’s what they’re fighting for. Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev are married ceramicists. Andrey Stefanov, their lifelong friend, is a photographer. When Russian bombs began blackening their skies and tanks flattening their trees, they decided to stay in Kharkiv. They established a virtual connection with the Los Angeles-based producer Paula DePre Pesman (The Cove) and director Brendan Bellomo, who sent them 15 GoPro and drone cameras. Now we watch as Slava, a special forces officer, trains civilians to fight – and whatever you think that looks like, this film will bring it home for you anew, as clearly terrified teachers, construction workers and IT specialists learn to shoulder machine guns.
“Resistance to evil has to be uncompromising,” Slava believes. “If you don’t resist evil it won’t stop until it reaches you.” But as the fighting and death intensify, Anya, Slava and Andrey also resist by persevering. Andrey shoots sustained, gorgeous shots of nature (including one jaw-dropping sequence in which a field of sunflowers gives way to a field of open graves waiting to be filled). Anya paints intricate scenes of peace onto her whimsical figurines, which the filmmakers amplify with delicate animation. She likes to place them in the open wounds of shell-shattered buildings, a reminder that porcelain, though fragile, can also withstand extreme heat, and can be restored after burial. This film doesn’t flinch from violence, but it finds hope in a people’s patient refusal to surrender who they are.
In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)