On September 21, 2023, the Ukrainian documentary Eurodonbas was released in wide release, taking the viewer back more than a hundred years and debunking Soviet myths about the industrialization of eastern Ukraine. Why you should definitely watch this movie, read the review.
What the new movie is about
The investigative film Eurodonbas aims to debunk the myths that were planted during the Soviet era that it was the tyrant Stalin who turned the underdeveloped east of Ukraine into a prosperous industrial region. However, the fact is that Europeans recognized the industrial potential of this region in the late 19th century. Back then, wealthy Germans, Belgians, British, French, and Americans who wanted to increase their wealth as quickly as possible moved to this then-depressed region, opening modern factories and building developed villages around them with all the infrastructure necessary for comfortable living. That’s how Donetsk, Mariupol, Lysychansk, Druzhkivka, New York, and a number of other cities in eastern Ukraine came into being. And it was Europeans who formed the population of the newly created settlements: businessmen moved here themselves, bringing their families, and also brought “their” specialists. Ukrainians, Russians, and other “eastern” peoples also flocked to the city, and although they were given lower positions, they also shared in the benefits of civilization.
However, after the Bolsheviks came to power, all of these modern factories were expropriated, and the Europeans and Americans themselves were forced to return home. The new “owners” did their best to erase traces of the presence of European civilization in eastern Ukraine, especially intensifying these efforts during the time of Stalin. It was then that the Soviet propaganda machine was churning out documentaries about the success of Stalin’s Five-Year Plans, while simultaneously presenting the east of Ukraine as richer and more developed than the “rural” west. And no one cared why all the machinery at the factories had foreign logos and the architecture was not at all typical of these lands.
When Ukraine finally gained its independence, there was virtually no mention of Europeans in the eastern regions-not in the archives, not on the streets, not in memories. It is only thanks to a few enthusiasts that historical justice has begun to be restored in our time.
While working on the film, its creators found and animated a number of unique but little-known archival materials from the 19th century that showed the life of Europeans in Donbas. Meanwhile, experts, historians, and local residents spoke on camera about the region’s past, which was carefully destroyed and distorted by the Soviet government, erasing the names of such European entrepreneurs as John Hughes, Ernest Solve, and Heinrich Laude from people’s memory.
By the way, one of the experts in the film was the famous Ukrainian religious scholar Ihor Kozlovsky, who passed away in early September 2023. He remained loyal to Ukraine and his native Donetsk region even when Donetsk was captured by pro-Russian separatists – he spent almost two years in a DPR prison, was tortured, and was later recognized as a prisoner of conscience.
The film also shows the foreign heritage of Mariupol, Lysychansk, Druzhkivka, and the village of New York, which, unfortunately, can no longer be seen as they were in the film, as almost all the objects filmed were destroyed by Russian troops shortly after the shooting in 2021.
The title of the movie
Many viewers were somewhat puzzled by the title Eurodonbas – some thought it was a film about modern times, while others argued that it was unnecessary to use a place name imposed by the Soviet government and later by the Russian invaders. However, the reality is not so simple.
As the film’s director, Korniy Hrytsiuk, explained during the presentation in Kyiv, the film was given this title because Europeans themselves at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries called the eastern Ukrainian lands Donbas (as evidenced by the archival documents shown in the film), and its territory then extended beyond the borders of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
Who are the filmmakers?
EuroDonbas was created by the authors of the podcast of the same name, director Korniy Hrytsiuk and producer Anna Palenchuk. Hrytsiuk, a Donetsk resident, is known as the director of the documentary Kyiv to War Train, nominated for the Kinokolo and Golden Dzyga national awards, and the dystopian film 2020. The Desolate Country”. The film was produced and co-written by Anna Palenchuk, known for such works as the Indian blockbuster RRR (Oscar for Best Original Song) and Maciek Hamela’s documentary From Where to Where, which was selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as well as for the films Numbers by Oleg Sentsov and Akhtem Seitablayev, Hero of My Time by Tonia Noyabrskaya and Mariupol by Mantas Kvedaravičius.
The work of motion designer Zhanna Laka, who managed to bring old photos and paintings to life on the screen, and composer Anton Degtyarev, who accompanied it all with a modern musical score, are also worth mentioning. Such a stylish audiovisual part made the film easy to understand, even though its subject matter is not so simple.
Reaction to the film
The film premiered at the Kharkiv MeetDocs International Film Festival, where it was the closing film. The film was also screened at the East European Film Festival in Cottbus (Germany) and in Toronto at Hot Docs, the largest documentary film festival in North America.
Currently, the film has a fairly high score of 7.6 out of 10 on IMDb. At the same time, the vast majority of viewers who left the theaters after the premiere screenings left very favorable reviews of the film.
Our verdict
Eurodonbas is a movie that is definitely worth watching. It reveals many interesting facts about the European past of eastern Ukraine that many modern Ukrainians did not even know about. Moreover, many people from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were also surprised to learn this information. And don’t be intimidated by the documentary status of the film, because it is very light, modern and beautiful, so that you can safely go to it with your children.
Perhaps at times the film has a somewhat television-like format, but in this case it does not harm it at all. As the film’s co-author and producer Anna Palenchuk explained during the presentation, this was intentional to make it accessible to the widest possible audience, as education was the main goal of the film.
The overall score is 8 out of 10 points.
