Atlantis (2019)

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   Siskoid

   In 2019, Valentyn Vasyanovych's Atlantis imagined Ukraine in 2025, recovering from a war with Russia which hadn't happened yet. It's eerie for that alone, and there are actually similarities between what apparently happened (the film doesn't dwell on details) and what ended up happening in the real world. First off, this is a beautiful film to look at. Sustained shots of activity in bleak landscapes and bleaker interiors, a real play with light and shadow and with spots of color, and some frankly maverick image-making. I have seen ideas here I had never seen before. In terms of story, it's more portraiture than narrative, so the burn is as slow as the editing. But the subject is worthy. War films are common, but films dealing with the aftermath of war are more rare and perhaps more instructive. Its effect on the soldier (PTSD and so on) is a part of this, but Atlantis goes further. Its Ukraine is recovering from the war and that's likely to take a long time (as it will in real life). History has taught us to think of starting and end points. A war is fought until that date and then it's over. It really isn't, and this film asks us to consider the devastation visited by modern warfare. It's about a fictional Ukraine, but it's also Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria... That title? We're looking at a lost civilization, a sunken world. Postapocalypse on our time. It's a mood, a powerful one. 1 year 5 months ago

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