Motherland

In the motherland of Belarus, it’s the “grandfathers” who are the problem. That’s the name given to older members of the military who, this documentary suggests, are pretty much free to bully and torture young conscripts with impunity. The practice - which is sometimes deadly - is so widespread it even has a name,“dedovshchina”, which means, “the reign of the grandads”.

Filmmakers Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka set the implications of this in a wider context in this bleak documentary, infused with the chill of winter. They interweave the story of youngster Nikita, who is on the cusp of his compulsory national service with that of Svetlana, who is seeking justice for her son Sasha, who was found hanged on a military base during his training.

On a day celebrating the military and graduating cadets - a hangover from the Soviet era, which still permeates the country - the lyrics of the national anthem ring out, speaking of peace and brotherly comradeship. Words from Mihalkovich’s letters to his mum, which he sent during his own conscripted time in the military, paint a different picture. “Everyone tries to dominate the other,” he notes, “They beat you up every day”.

This is a film of this sort of stark contrast. Svetlana is mobilising other mums, but there’s only so much they can do against the bigger political picture, the struggle against authority emphasised in a sequence in which priest after priest refuses to come and bless her son’s grave. Then there’s the contrast between the camaraderie of Nikita’s friends and what lies on the military horizon, as all of them consider losing a year of their life to a cause they have little interest in. The gulf between the older and younger generations is also emphasised in conversations between Nikita and his casually militaristic father, who is almost revelling in the idea of his son being “straightened out”.

Mihalkovich and Badziaka take a measured approach, allowing moments of almost still life to punctuate proceedings, as Sveltana builds a dossier showing corruption and extortion. Wider events in the run up to the highly disputed 2020 election, which saw Alexander Lukashenko returned for a sixth term in office, are also shown to be impacted by the militarised nature of the country. While many of the younger generation protest, those who have been conscripted are called on to suppress them, with violence as necessary, or face brutality themselves. This documentary shows how this militarisation of youth has a chilling effect on efforts to exact change and is itself chillingly effective.