Recently, a film called Blind Vacation, or Відпустка наосліп (vidpustka naoslip) in Ukrainian, was released on Netflix. It scores badly on IMDB and in many ways is another generic, cheesy romcom that should be forgettable. However, the film left a bitter taste in my mouth for various reasons. It ultimately raised the question, how realistic do films in Ukraine need to be right now?
The plot centres around standard Kyiv businesswoman, who is overworked, has become arrogant and rude, has an influencer boyfriend who shares everything online to her annoyance, and a struggling deal about property with some Slovakian companies, and a soldier she meets by chance, they argue at first and like every rom-com of all time they of course fall in love. She meets local businesses and people, everyone is super nice, goes to an Ivana Kupala (Midsummer) ceremony, breaks up with her boyfriend, the man goes back to war, and at the end, they get together and finally kiss. Stupid plot. Badly written. But why am I talking about it then?
The film attempts to touch on war themes vaguely, and i understand that not everything needs to be about the war in film. For example, the film “Lessons of Tolerance” is a great film from Ukraine, which has no relation to the war, as it was based on a play written before the full-scale invasion. But it does touch on the future direction of Ukraine and its battle with homophobia. However, this film explicitly has themes that need a bit more depth, otherwise, it’s used as a sort of prop with no real purpose.
I am not entirely sure who this film was aimed at, either. There are silly jokes and sound effects that make it seem more like a film aimed at children, yet, really, it’s not something I think many children would like. Maybe a family-friendly rom-com, but it lacks sufficient gravitas to appeal to the adults too I also cannot tell if it is aimed to present Ukrainian life to foreigners, in a somewhat romanticised way, or for the people themselves. It’s just a bit of a mess, which I will go into.
One thing to note, Jerry Heil does the soundtrack and features in it briefly, as does Nemo (as they have got some form of Eurovision friendship).
I think my fundamental problem is, if you’re going to make a cheesy romcom, fine, but if you’re going to try to touch on some real themes, actually try to engage with it a bit more.
First, let’s consider the businesswoman go-getter. She is clearly facing burnout, and that’s a real problem for many. Especially for those who live in Kyiv, are in their 30s with societal pressures added to the stress of the war. But, her emotional state is just used as a bit of a prop at the start, and for her to finally slow down and be nicer after a day in the mountains. I don’t think that would be the case, she’d be going mad, the internet is bad, the place is dirty, there’s no real infrastructure etc., and just…leave.
If, however, she had experienced a full breakdown in Kyiv, with the stress of drone and missile attacks that would be more convincing, and also give a motivation to go to the mountains in the first place. I was actually quite aggrieved they just portrayed Kyiv as another working European city. I’m sorry, it is to an extent, but there’s a war, and it’s just bizarre to pretend otherwise. In fact, the whole film paints the war as something “over there” not right here in every Ukrainian’s life, even if you are not personally affected by drones and bombs, as Carpathian folk are not, you will have lost someone, have relatives or friends fighting, etc. And in Kyiv, the air defence is great, but hearing bombs and sleeping in corridors takes a toll.
Then we have depictions of rural life. Now I love going to the Carpathians, but my god, you can find very different levels of comfort. You can find hotels that force you to eat their meals and they don’t tell you what it is beforehand, or places with no wifi or good hot water, and hosts claiming you “picky Kyivans” need too much. Or you can find people from Kyiv expecting way too much from a simple village. Of course, it is budget dependent, but the resentment of over-demanding urban Ukrainians vs rural folk is real, and you could explore that more and make a point about unfair stereotypes they have about each other.
It’s an overly romanticised vision, and I think that is harmful. They touch on the fact that the village struggles for money, but then this city woman turns up and basically solves everything by advertising local businesses. They could have used this plot point, which didn’t really go anywhere, to show the poverty some people face in rural Ukraine, maybe she finds sympathy for them and then decides to help, which makes her claim back some of her humanity.
The other issue, probably which grates on me the most, is the portrayal of the soldier. Wikipedia says the film tries to deal with the theme of soldiers adapting to civilian life. Brilliant, a timely, important topic. But it doesn’t. In fact, he’s the most competent man and sorts everything out. The problems are with everyone else. If you know anyone who has been in the war, you will see it changes them. They become different; they are traumatised. I’ve met soldiers come back, for rest, to see family, etc., and some turn to drink or drugs, can be quite emotionally shut off, or very reactive, breaking down mid-conversation. They may be frustrated that civilians talk about their own problems and carry on as if the war isn’t happening. It’s a real challenge for Ukrainian society to handle right now. It could have, no, it should have been handled more honestly if you’re going to do that.
So, the question is, does every film have to be realistic and gritty? Well, no. You can use parables, metaphors, and easy films to touch on serious topics. However, if you’re going to use a soldier as a main character, a woman from Kyiv as the other, it feels bizarre to shun some of the biggest challenges they will be facing, when they could easily serve the plot. Some may say, well, all Ukrainians understand this implicitly. But, if you’re going to put this film on Netflix, have English subtitles, etc., you cannot do that; you have to explain some of these things just a bit more. Subtext is important, yes, I don’t want Marvel levels of reduction. You don’t need big monologues. Just have a scene where the soldier is clearly having some PTSD, and have an incident at the start involving air strikes. Have some conversations or shots of the poverty in the Carpathians. Challenge the stereotypes people have about each other, and the need for unity in times of war. There’s so much you could do, and yet this film couldn’t decide what it wanted to be.
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