Rent 1918: The Battle of Kruty (2019)

Sad Premonition of Today - 1918: The Battle of Kruty review by CV

It seems that this film, made in 2019, was to be a centenary commemoration of the Battle of Kruty (1918) where a small force of Ukrainians put to rout a much larger force of Bolshevik Russians determined to bring the Ukraine, an independent state, into the hegemony of the new Soviet Union. How sad that history has repeated itself when we have witnessed how the present day Ukrainians managed to hold off Putin's forces in 2022, defending Kyiv. The Ukrainians must have had a thought about this possibility at the time as the leader of the Bolsheviks is played by an actor that looks like a younger Putin, himself. The film features three friends who volunteer as soldiers and their experiences are followed through the action. There is a bit of propagandizing I feel: the Bolshevik general is a mad drug-addicted "Putin" character, throwing scores of men to their death at entrenched positions, while the military regime in the Ukrainian ranks is decidedly humane and genial by contrast. Interesting but not a classic.