A powerful new documentary offers a stark, ground-level view of the war in Ukraine, filmed from the heart of the conflict by a director who lived it. 'A Poem for Little People,' directed by Ivan Sautkin, premieres on True Story on 23 January.
Volunteers on the Frontline: The Agony of Evacuation
The film's primary focus is the harrowing work of a volunteer humanitarian team evacuating civilians from homes on the eastern frontline. Sautkin, a film-maker by trade, served as a volunteer with this group and documented their missions himself. There are no interviews, explanatory voiceovers, or staged scenes—just the raw, immediate footage of desperate situations.
In one gripping sequence, the team, led by the unflappable Anton, attempts to convince an elderly woman to leave her property as explosions sound nearby. She resists, citing the care of her paralysed brother and her German shepherd dog. The volunteers calmly assure her they will carry her brother and that the dog is welcome. Her eventual, tearful agreement to go is a moment of heartbreaking resignation.
The film does not shy from the moral complexity of their work. In another scene, volunteers question their own actions as they transport a frail elderly woman over shattered, potholed roads, wondering if the traumatic journey itself is causing more harm.
Defiance at the Border: Pensioners Turned Spies and Poets
The documentary's second strand moves to a town near the Russian border. Here, Sautkin turns his camera on two remarkable elderly women, friends and neighbours living in a block of flats. As Russian forces entered Ukraine, Zinaida, a woman in her 80s, began acting as a spy for the Ukrainian army. From her window, she meticulously noted the numbers of tanks rolling in, relaying the intelligence to Ukrainian forces.
Upstairs, her friend Taisia channelled her fury into poetry, writing verses that lambast the Russian invaders. Their quiet, determined resistance forms a powerful counterpoint to the chaos of the evacuation scenes, proving that there are, as the film subtly argues, 'no little people' in this war.
A Raw Cinematic Testament to Trauma and Resilience
A Poem for Little People is an intensely personal and visceral film. Its cinéma vérité style, with no guiding narration, can be challenging but ultimately amplifies its authenticity. The audience is placed directly in the minivan, on the cracked roads, and in the flats overlooking the invasion.
The film serves as a direct testament to the 'raw trauma' experienced by civilians and the volunteers trying to save them. By focusing on these individual stories of evacuation and defiance, Ivan Sautkin has created a moving and essential record of the human spirit under relentless fire. It is a poem not of words, but of actions, observed with unblinking courage.
