A new Ukrainian feature film called Cyborgs has become the first to depict the bloody war against Russian-backed separatists, focusing on a battle for a highly symbolic airport. The patriotic drama details the clash for Donetsk airport located in Eastern Ukraine
Staying put in the face of deadly danger
The title, Cyborgs, refers to a nickname for soldiers holed up in the airport who withstood tank attacks and shelling despite limited logistical support from Kiev. “Wow, how cool you are! You can’t be human, you’re probably cyborgs!” a Ukrainian unit commander exclaims at the start of the film as his men opt to stay inside the ruined airport despite facing deadly danger
Ukraine battles its former master
Following overwhelming evidence of Moscow funnelling in troops and arms, the film stresses this is a war with Ukraine’s former Soviet master Russia, rather than pro-Russian insurgents
“Unexpectedly, I liked the film. We are used to the fact that war films are propagandistic, but this one is actually realistic,” AFP quoted a Ukrainian
as saying
Since a December release, it has earned 22.2 million hryvnias ($8,00,000) at the box office, becoming Ukraine’s top-grossing film made with state funding, according to AFP. Some screenings have taken place in Kiev-held towns in the conflict zone in the east of the country, but it has not been released in Russia
Kiev’s Stalingrad?
The 242-day siege of Donetsk airport has been compared by Ukrainian media to the long drawn-out siege of Stalingrad during World War II. For over eight months, the rebels besieged government forces defending the airport in fierce fighting that reduced the terminals to a charred steel skeleton. The airport finally fell to the rebels with 200 Ukrainian soldiers dead and separatist losses estimated at up to 800. The ongoing conflict broke out in 2014 and has cost more than 10,000 lives