A Sniper’s War (2018) - Review

An under hyped, yet poorly received documentary that details the troubles in the Donbass region.

A Sniper’s War Poster

For a brief plot breakdown and a slight heap of context, the film covers a sniper, colloquially known as ‘Deki’ and his involvement in this tension on the side of the Ukrainian rebels. With Luhansk and Donetsk being Pro-Russian and backed by that country, the Wikipedia page for this war is as long as War and Peace itself but ultimately it’s a subjective topic which will likely explain the reception to this film as a whole. Regardless, A Sniper’s War follows a voluntary fighter as he chips into the cause for the rebel side.

With that out the way and in mind, I’ll list some links later that give more of a serving of context but just know the focus of this ‘review’ is largely on the film. Talking in terms of quality and quality alone, the film was quite entertaining and really powerful. Shot via a small crew and comprised for the vast majority, of handheld camerawork, one found the visuals were somewhat chilling and conflicting. From vistas of a neo, dystopian wasteland to the beauty of inner city Donetsk, its a sort of condemnation on behalf of the filmmaker - its a clear swipe at war and human conflict as the contrasting landscapes just radiate their own atmosphere which conflate to this disheartening emotion, you sort of get a feel of the pointlessness of it all, whilst equally getting - from incidental characters - a sense of why this war rages on and why it started in the first place, a credit I must give in abundance, I’ll go in depth more in a later stage when covering reception but that is a significant achievement the film manages, though at times it feels a little like fiction and steps into the world of hyperreality but, nonetheless struck home. Regardless of your political affiliations or standings, the palpable emotions of what are effectively victims and their testimony was harrowing. Returning to the visuals, it’s essentially modern filmmaking at its finest, stunning visuals and effective camerawork to really benefit the documentary genre as it lays bare the brutality of modern conflict and almost transports the viewer into the frontlines of Donetsk.

Now, unsurprisingly the stand out aspect of the film is ‘Deki’. I need to mention again, that at times the does feel hyperreal, like you genuinely couldn’t write some of the incidents that occur as it would appear too outlandish. Pushed into war after the US and NATO bombed his native Serbia, amassing a few war crimes along the way, Deki’s motivating factors are completely understandable and get well fleshed out, though in that topic, the film does a bit of a disservice to him at times. Ultimately, A Sniper’s War isn’t a political documentary and hasn’t got the run time of a series, so when it eases into politics, it somewhat falters - highlighted none more so than the sequence where Deki is asked whether he’s a ‘fascist’. It feels misplaced, Deki is ultimately not the person to blame here, he’s a foot level pawn in a war that’s all but been forgotten by Europe. That said, Deki as a character is compelling, whether or not you stand with his motives, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was revealed he was an award winning actor and this whole film was a ruse, he’s an exceptional and compelling subject who’s character is thoroughly explored and bared to the audience in a fashion not too dissimilar to Louis Theroux’s works, a compelling, if a little muddled, film about a modern crisis.

Deki Patrolling a Political Gathering

I can happily rave on about positives for as long as possible, but ultimately the film is best being watched by oneself - available on Prime Video in the U.K. (though I can’t speak for the global availability) the main personal negative I felt was it lacked an identity and was a bit betrayed by the medium. As a whole it’s astoundingly good but the 80 minute run time is too short, there’s no room for a lesson of historical context in the Donbass region and covering geopolitics, Deki’s motivations etc. Honestly a Web or TV series would’ve been a better medium to deliver the story in but to be honest the flaws can be forgiven, I want to take this small platform of mine to talk about the reception. Netflix have made headlines whilst I was writing this for incompetently, if not insidiously marketing Maïmouna Doucouré’s latest film Mignonnes (2020) review bombed and smashed on aggregator sites just further highlighting the toxicity of the film community. Whilst contextually things are slightly different with Olya Schechter’s documentary, it falls into the perhaps worse category of largely unprovoked hatred. Head over to IMDb and see the shockingly low 2.2 overall rating, trawl through the cesspool of hateful reviews that have no criticism outside of ‘America is badly portrayed’ of ‘Communism Never Works’ and so on - anything remotely left of the mainstream and Hollywood is portrayed as propaganda bearing the hammer and sickle is laughable. Objectively viewing the film wild show why these ‘reviews‘ are hollow, all the film form aspects are on lock, the narrative is compelling and it’s a stellar documentary which has a crucial point behind it: serving the unserved and overlooked, highlighting an almost forgotten war and placing itself alongside the Danish documentary Armadillo. There are genuine criticisms and I hopefully made a fair case for the few things that personally didn’t sit well with me but I can only urge you to sit through the film yourself, do right by the film and it’s makers to see what it has to put forth.

A greatly crafted documentary that serves as a voice for a forgotten conflict, A Sniper’s War has sadly been the victim of a review bomb pile on and deserves an audience willing to give it the light of day: I sincerely urge you to track it down and learn something from it.