Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War

Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War
Directed by Olena Tumanska

I was a little uncertain about this documentary in the early going. It starts off extremely slow and unintentive. At a base level it follows a handful of Ukrainian mothers as they flee to Canada during the current war. They are all part of the same program which connects willing households with Ukrainian refugees, and all of the households are located in the GTA.

What becomes abundantly clear in the early portions of this documentary is the clear and intentional absence of footage that shows where they are coming from. This is almost entirely shot in Canada, and thus all images of the devastation come from interviews with the mothers and children. The result of this is a somewhat muted approach that, in the early going, is devoid of much drama. I know that the subject matter is very real and deeply important, but as far as filmmaking goes, its not incredibly engaging

The film gains its strength though as it goes. Once these mothers and their children are settled into their homes, the narrowed focus on this part of their journey affords the film plenty of time and space to really dig into what this displacement looks like and feels like for the ones involved. The full weight of their experience hits later on as the uncertainty of the moment begins to demand certain choices as time moves forward.

If I was uncertain about this in the early going, I was fully invested by the end. It’s a bit long and could have used a bit more of an edit purely on a structural and practical front, but the individual threads each have their own impact. Each family reflects a different scenario with specific challenges and expectations. What binds them together is the sheer breadth and reality of the humanitarian crisis.