FIn other words, of all the reports on the war in Ukraine, very few are from the perspective of soldiers on the front lines. But Jamie Roberts’ BBC Two documentary, which asked Ukrainians to wear helmet-mounted cameras as they faced relentless Russian attacks, captured the bloody reality of an increasingly forgotten conflict in the West.
The intimate and harrowing film “Ukraine, Enemies in the Woods” was conceived in response to war fatigue, the director said. But if anything, the brutal and often unheroic struggle in the frozen forests northwest of Kupyansk highlights the enormous human toll Ukraine is taking to defend its homeland.
Roberts spent seven weeks at Berlingo in November and December working on the film, which will air Monday night. During this period, the 99-man force lost 10 men and another 66 were too wounded to fight anymore – a casualty rate of 76%.
“You can go online and see a lot of violent images on social media like Telegram, but they have zero context. Our aim is to show the reality of what is happening, to show humanity and the relationship between soldiers. I Never seen a war like this; when you see it on the news, it usually looks under control,” Roberts said.
It took Roberts several weeks to find Berlingo. Although several Ukrainian units were willing to work with the BBC filmmakers, by the time he went out to meet them on the battlefield, “often they had been destroyed, destroyed by too many casualties”. The strength of large units is usually reduced to 15% of total strength.
The unforgettable sequence at the end of the documentary is shot from the perspective of company commander Wowan, whose brief breaths continue to accompany the ensuing battle scenes. The film has no narration, so the action and accompanying interviews carry the weight of the story.
Roberts said the connection to the next foxhole is lost — and many times, soldiers are just trying to figure out what’s going on. Wowan sets out to find his companions, call signs Fury and Adidas. First, he found several dead Russians, evidence of a firefight, and then a nervous search of the foxholes revealed dead comrades.
Vovan helped place their bodies on stretchers, but there was more gunfire and evidence (possibly from a drone) that there was at least one living Russian soldier nearby. The Ukrainian strode towards a depression in the ground, there was some movement ahead, and he unloaded his magazine twice, killing him.
It’s a well-edited scene that, while not graphic in its depiction, captures the reality of combat: isolating, fragmented, and grim. Roberts justifies showing it, arguing that “we treat it with care. This is not violence for the sake of violence. This is not a stalemate war; huge numbers of people are being killed every day”.
Wowan reflects on the incident in the documentary and suggests the encounters will linger in his mind for a long time: “We killed a lot of people. [But] It’s all negative because we lost our comrades. It was very, how should I describe it, very nerve-wracking. My head was full of everything and I needed to unload it. “
The obvious conclusion is that fighting in remote areas is pointless. Despite the human toll, Ukrainians filmed conversations about the need to stop the Russians, their hopes for a democratic future and, in the words of field medic Natalia (the only woman filmed), their experience in the war Found a home when it was over. Retreading and the “adopt more dogs, lots of dogs” wars.
The documentary makes clear that the Russian invaders took a far greater toll in the battle for the forest, with Roberts estimating that “the casualty ratio was between three to ten.” They were often poorly trained and unwisely gathered in large groups, but although some were captured, few surrendered.
Even so, the Ukrainian defenders have little respite, their weapons supplies are becoming increasingly scarce, and the conflict seems never-ending. Roberts said this was not a film that could or would have been made in the 18 months before the war. After working every day for seven weeks just a few miles from the front lines, he now believes President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent claims that 31,000 Ukrainians have been killed in the war are almost certainly an underestimate.
