The TIFF Lowdown: Fusing rigorous reportage with innovative cinematic subjectivity, this bold documentary from veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil is a uniquely intimate portrait of a Deaf person’s experience of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Elegantly fusing rigorous reportage with cinematic subjectivity, this bold documentary from filmmaker and veteran war photographer Olivier Sarbil offers a deeply personal perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Crafting an audiovisual experience carefully designed to match that of its subject, Viktor is an intimate portrait of a Deaf person navigating chaos and violence.
Director Sarbil himself suffered an injury that affected his hearing, and this film — which uses the same Oscar-winning sound design team that worked on TIFF ’19 Platform contender Sound of Metal — brilliantly evokes the winnowed voices and muffled rumbles of Viktor’s aural environment. Just don’t mistake Sarbil’s mimetic of sound as anything resembling pity. As Viktor himself explains, silence is not the absence of something. It is the presence of the self.
Reaction: Though I initially balked at the idea of another documentary on the Ukraine/Russian war, VIKTOR breaks out of the gate as a wholly original concept and perspective from a very unique individual, who is deaf but still is involved as a war photographer. The movie rarely leaves his perspective as we see a small group of people around him prepare for war, shoot guns and interact with Viktor who is documenting everything with a black and white camera. In turn, the filmmakers themselves shoot the entire movie in black & white and it has some truly outstanding outdoor shots, while also staying aligned with Viktor’s vision. The sound design is so unnerving (to repeat the program notes, this was mixed by the same team that did SOUND OF METAL from TIFF 2019) but it becomes very involving after a slow start, and is fascinating viewing. VIKTOR is a perfect fit for documentary fans and especially for current events, though I find some of the storytelling here may be off-putting for some viewers. I’m curious to see if this goes to theatres or straight to streaming next.
Thanks to TIFF Media for assistance with this reaction article. This is one of the many movies playing at TIFF this year. For more information, point your browser to www.tiff.net!