Part docudrama, part speculative fiction, part self portrait, and part Ukrainian Sentimental Value, To the Victory! imagines Ukranian life after the war is declared over, leaving the country still marked by trauma and rupture. Performed by director Valentyn Vasyanovych himself after the originally cast actor was called to serve in the Armed Forces, the film follows Roman, a filmmaker left behind in Kyiv while his wife and daughter begin a new life in Vienna. He tries to keep living as before, making films and hoping his wife might one day return, convinced that life will somehow return to normal.
The film itself mirrors the conditions it portrays. Funded in part by a Netflix supported grant and inspired by Vasyanovych’s own experience of separation, it was made with a skeletal crew of six or seven, friends who moved between operating the camera and stepping into the frame. This method blurs the line between lived reality and cinematic fiction, echoing the work of Jafar Panahi, whom Vasyanovych has acknowledged as an influence. The result is both intimate and self critical, though it sometimes drifts with the uncertainty of its protagonist.
Placed alongside the director’s earlier works Atlantis (2019) and Reflection (2022), To the Victory! continues his exploration of war’s aftermath, shot in long static takes with a stripped down production style. It also carries an unmistakably Ukrainian sense of humor that surfaces even in despair and functions as a survival tool to counterbalance tragedy. The film catches viewers off guard with moments of surprising levity, whether in the father’s dry command to his son’s friends to “get the king” or in a live streamed Q&A where Roman receives a question from an unexpected person.
Even with such humor, To the Victory! is filled with melhancholy in every frame. Ukraine appears gray and emptied, haunted by war even after it has ended. The stillness can verge on stoic, and some scenes, especially those with Roman’s friend, stretch longer than they should. Yet the film remains affecting in its honesty, capturing a less obvious side of war, not only in how it breaks families apart but also in how it unsettles Art itself, which now carries the task of depicting life among ruins.
This is part of Reviews On Reels TIFF 2025 Coverage. Due to the hectic rhythm of a film festival, it may be tweaked in the future. Still courtesy of TIFF.
- 1. Sentimental Value
- 2. Hamnet
- 3. Blue Moon
- 4. Sirāt
- 5. The Testament of Ann Lee
- 27. To the Victory!
- Where to watch
- Not available for streaming
- Where to watch
- Not available for streaming
Play trailer
- Original title
- За перемогу!
- Director
- Valentyn Vasyanovych
- Cast
- Valentyn Vasyanovych, Vladlen Odudenko, Marianna Novikova, Hryhorii Naumov, Volodymyr Yatsenko, Mykhailo Liubarskyi, Serhii Stepanskyi
- Screenwriter
- Valentyn Vasyanovych
- Cinematography
- Mykhailo Liubarskyi, Valentyn Vasyanovych
- Editor
- Valentyn Vasyanovych
- Country
- Language
- Ukrainian