In a pine forest near Izyum, three people stand near the site of one of Russia's most brutal war crimes in Ukraine - empty graves show where Ukrainian civilians tortured and killed by Russian troops were buried. However, one of the women says that everything is fake and is “Ukrainian propaganda aimed at sowing hatred against Russians”. This is a frame from the film “The Great Patriotic Journey” by Czech director Robin Kvapil. In it, three pro-Russian Czechs travel to Ukraine and comment on what they see in the war-torn country.
Conspiracy theorists
The three, who call themselves “dissidents”, are not active propagandists – they simply express some of the opinions in Czech society. They are skeptical of most news about Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine, believe that the West started it, and are annoyed by Ukrainian refugees in their country. They are against environmental policy, against refugees, against equality policy, and against the EU. They are also convinced that the Czech Republic is not a democratic country. The film seeks to answer the question of whether these people will change their views after seeing firsthand evidence of Russian crimes in Ukraine.
The date of the film's premiere is no coincidence – On August 21, 1968, Soviet troops entered Czechoslovakia and brutally put an end to the Prague Spring. The debate surrounding the film is related to Russian influence in the Czech Republic and its dangers.
These discussions are taking place at a critical domestic political moment for the country - parliamentary elections are coming up in October. Sociological surveys so far show the right-wing populist ANO party of former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who does not openly support Vladimir Putin, but maintains pro-Russian positions. Two more pro-Russian parties are expected to gain representation in the new parliament.
People massively view their country negatively
The country's pro-European president, Petr Pavel, expressed his concern about the mood in the Czech Republic in an interview with the local portal “Aktualne”. Pavel said he was amazed by how many Czechs assess the state of the country and living conditions as bad, even though the real situation is often much better - for example, in terms of healthcare and crime.
The three participants in the film, Ivo, Nikola and Petra, also assess their country negatively. All three are in their 50s - Petra is the daughter of a communist functionary, a theologian by education. Nikola is a farmer, and Ivo has a garden with fruit trees and says that for him it is not important whether the news is reliable, but whether it corresponds to his “feelings”. Director Robin Kvapil found the three with the help of an ad in the newspaper, in which he said that he was looking for people who doubted the information about the war in Ukraine. He promised them that his film would give them a chance to find out the truth for themselves.
The three Czechs travel to Kharkiv in a minibus, with Petra singing the Russian anthem along the way. In the Ukrainian city, the three see the destruction, the bombed-out hospital, the Saltovka district, which is now uninhabited. They visit children studying in bunkers in a village near the front, as well as mass graves in the forest near Izyum. Does this change their views?
Belittling and refusing to see the truth
Ivo, Nikola and Petra comment on the views and almost always manage to find an excuse for the horrific reality of the war in Ukraine. For example, they say that the missiles on the apartment blocks accidentally landed there, and not because the Russians were deliberately attacking civilians. In one situation, Nikola even “explains” the rape of Ukrainian girls by Russian soldiers, saying that it was an “extraordinary situation” in which these men simply wanted to experience at least a little pleasure in the last hours of their lives.
Sometimes the three Czechs express some doubts about their beliefs, but the expectation that by the end of the film they will still accept the truth remains unfulfilled. On their return to the Czech Republic, the three conclude that they would not fight for their homeland if necessary, because they do not think that this country deserves it.
Hard conclusions
In the final scene of the film, director Robin Kvapil is filmed alongside the three participants. There he says: “I learned that there is a world in which evil triumphs - when people like Ivo, Nikola and Petra, having seen everything with their own eyes, continue to spread the narratives of a monstrous regime that commits genocide. If these people win the elections in the free West and manage to weaken our system, some of us will no longer exist, because they will simply kill us.” And Nikola nods his head affirmatively to this line and says: “My friend, that's exactly right”.
The film's depressing finale is accompanied by another conclusion from the author: “I also learned that I am the one who needs to change. Trying to understand everyone and wanting to reach an agreement with them at all costs can become our greatest source of weakness and the reason why these wars are lost - first the informational one, and then the real one”.
Author: Keno Ferzek