Through the eyes of artists, Porcelain War shows its audience a raw and unedited portrait of the cataclysmic war in Ukraine. The documentary is almost entirely filmed by its subjects and tells the story of a small group of artists whose lives were directly affected by the Russian Invasion of its westerly neighbour. Slava, Anya and Andrej were forced to put down their paint brushes and pick up assault rifles in a bid to defend their country from Vladimir Putin’s devastating invasion. Through found footage, animation and interviews, Porcelain War shows how the artists still manage to work on their passions whilst also defending their country.
Porcelain War is at its best when its showing the true indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people. Anyone who has kept up with the news of the war in Ukraine will know that its a country of people who are not willing to give in to adversity and will sacrifice everything for the defence of their homeland and their families. This documentary makes that spirit all the more apparent and bluntly obvious. Many citizens tell their stories and their experiences over these last two years of occupation and despite some really heart-breaking tales, everyone keeps fighting as its simply the right thing to do. The documentary also serves as a faithful and brutal illustration of modern warfare, it doesn’t shy away from showing the true nature of this conflict, perfectly comfortable with the sight of corpses flung across the battlefield and enemy combatants having bombs dropped on them. There are sequences filmed entirely from the perspective of soldiers where you get as close to frontline combat as you can get without leaving your seat.
This footage of conflict is balanced with interviews about the starting of romantic relationships, happy family memories and the namesake of the film – porcelain model making. Slava and Anya’s story is sometimes shown through their porcelain art, with creative and vibrant animation projected on to Anya’s sculptures that depicts the horrors of the conflict through a more palatable and metaphorical lens.
As you’ll be able to tell, there’s a lot to Porcelain War and this is where it doesn’t always stick the landing. Where the film has so many characters and so much it wants to cover, from the origins of the war, the war itself, the Ukrainian people and the importance of art, it often finds it difficult to find its focus. The segments concerning art feel like profile from a culture programme on the BBC and its juxtaposed with the footage of war which feels more like you’re watching a piece of war journalism from Sky News. It’s not something that ruins the experience by any means but it does have a result of making the accounts somewhat harder to follow leading to some of the emotional investment being sadly lost along the way.
Porcelain War is essential viewing for anyone who needs their faith in humanity restored and is as good as documentaries about wars can be with the best sort of material available. There’s no studio interreference here, instead it’s a fervent and strong profile of the human spirit. It certainly doesn’t hold your hand but its a long overdue dosage of hope.
Porcelain War will release in selected UK cinemas on December 6th
