Unfiltered and unseen: “Intercepted” at the 2024 Samizdat Film Festival3 min read
Intercepted is breathtaking, bone-chilling, and complex. Oksana Karpovych’s award-winning documentary deserves all of its accolades, the unique format of this project reviving the unique genre of documentary filmmaking. Shot between March and November 2022, the film contrasts videos of Ukraine amidst war with the work’s namesake — intercepted recordings of Russian soldiers on the telephone, capturing warfare in a unique way.
The audio of the Russian soldiers captured ranges from immense brainwashing to fear for their own lives, showcasing the inhumane power and control of the Kremlin. While viewers may initially feel for certain soldiers— calling home to their wives, children, and parents with their potential last words — Karpovych calls into question how anyone can allow their morale to become that of a murderer, rapist, and ruthless war criminal.
The most haunting audios showcase Russian soldiers using ethnic and other slurs, describing the killings and torture they have conducted in graphic detail, all while laughing along about it. To many, conducting such atrocities is clearly satisfying, and the references to Ukrainians as sub-human in repeated instances showcases just how many on the battlefield believe the invasion was, and is, wholly justifiable.
Contrasted with this audio is the visual toll of war, portrayed via slow and steady camera shots. Images of children swimming together in a lake as fallen apartment blocks and piles of rubble blocks pepper the background. Life goes on within constant devastations, surrounded by constant reminders of the Russian invasion. Frames of houses with empty or dishevelled rooms depict the necessity for others to flee their home, often in a rush with little in hand.
At times, these scenes are not accompanied with any audio, the haunting silence challenging viewers to absorb every little detail and become submerged in the devastation present. At other times, the film feels loud, depicting the adaptation to a new reality accompanied by blaring sirens or the dehumanising words of those subjecting them to such horrors. This juxtaposition is one of horrors of war and the devastation that can be caused by government propaganda, brainwashing, and the alteration of history.
Another artistic choice made by Karpovych is the anonymisation of the callers in the tapes and the locations filmed throughout the movie. This allows the audience to avoid analysing the depicted scenes as isolated incidents, but rather as the harsh realities for millions.
Effectively, this documentary serves as a voice for many, a tool for a nation to inform outsiders about their suffering in a refined, digested, format without sugarcoating the suffering. Just as the Vietnam War radicalised millions of Americans as the first televised war, the Russo-Ukrainian War has drawn immense attention not just from policymakers and scholars, but from anyone with a smartphone. The ability to inform billions across the globe seconds following an attack has set a unique precedent for historic documentations of modern warfare. That being said, social media can be misconstrued in hundreds of ways, keeping the need for traditional media, like Intercepted, alive.
Karpovych is undoubtedly an artist. While documentary filmmaking is often an experimental format, Intercepted manages to be revolutionary. The slow-moving shots feel as if the viewer is standing in the film’s setting, observing others passing by, coping together. The grainy audio from phone calls serve as a looking glass into so many intimate moments, whether heartbreakingly sad or deeply disturbing.
Intercepted is a complete immersion, a glimpse of understanding into the horrors that have become the daily lives of millions in the blink of an eye.
Intercepted premiered in Scotland on 5 October as part of the 2024 Samizdat Film Festival.
