A SIMPLE SOLDIER is part of TIFF Docs this year, a wonderful part of the festival that is programmed by Thom Powers and team. This is one of the many solid docs that I covered in Toronto this year!
About: A Simple Soldier is rooted in Ukraine’s current tragedy of war, but it has the power to resonate for years to come for its complexity, humour, and artistry. The soldier in the title is the film’s co-director, cinematographer, and narrator Artem Ryzhykov. Documentary fans may remember Ryzhykov’s stunning camera work in the Sundance Grand Prize winner The Russian Woodpecker from 10 years ago. That film might have launched him into an international career, but he stuck close to the unfolding events in his country. When Russia invaded in 2022, Ryzhykov initially hoped to shoot with his camera, but he quickly learned his country needed him more as a soldier. For more than three years, he managed both roles. Fellow combatants called him “Canon” because his camera was ever-present.
The film’s co-director is Juan Camilo Cruz from Colombia. In the lead-up to Russia’s invasion, he was seeking TV reportage of Ukrainian civilians in training and he reached out to Ryzhykov. The two formed a long-distance bond and created this film without ever meeting in person. Cruz wrote in a director’s statement, “What I saw in Artem’s footage was not just the unfolding of a geopolitical crisis but the intimate, unspoken struggles of a man trying to make sense of his place in it all.”
Through Ryzhykov’s lens we get to know several figures coping as best they can with jokes, philosophy, camaraderie, and love. “It’s about the quiet, relentless moments of survival,” Ryzhykov wrote, “capturing the relentless push to keep moving forward when everything in you wants to stop.”
Reaction: I remember last year walking past many protests about the movie RUSSIANS AT WAR as the movie had a deep political connection with breaking news at the time. While I am not sure if A SIMPLE SOLDIER will have the same reaction, this doc is simple in its setup but VERY telling in what the camera captures at the start of the Russia/Ukraine conflict and showing footage right from a talented documentary filmmaker, here paired with filmmaker Juan Camilo Cruz who did the entire movie remotely. Using very minimal use of outside documentary forces, the movie simply shows us the perspectives along with both the good and bad of this situation.
My only minor quibble is that the movie is more suited for a streaming or documentary channel of a theatrical experience. I did see a screener of this and didn’t get a chance to even peek on a theatrical screening or industry show just to see how it played in a cinema. This is more suited for a TV broadcast or streaming service, but it still comes recommended for its timely subject matter if you are able to see it at the festival.
