Atlantis (2019 film)
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''Atlantis'' ( uk, Атлантида) is a 2019 Ukrainian
dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...
film directed by
Valentyn Vasyanovych Valentyn Vasyanovych (born 21 July 1971) is a Ukrainian film director. He is best known for his two films on post-traumatic stress disorder following armed conflict, ''Atlantis'' (2019), and ''Reflection'' (2021). Films Vasyanovych's first fi ...
. It tells the story of a former soldier struggling with
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
in a near-future
Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, following a war with
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It received positive critical reviews overall and won the award for Best Film in the Horizons section of the
76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Film director Lucrecia Martel was appointed as the President of the Jury. ''The Truth'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was selected to open the fest ...
. It was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the
93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
, but it was not nominated. ''Atlantis'' received new attention three years after its release with the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, which the film had fictionally depicted the aftermath of.


Plot

The story follows Sergiy (''Rymaryk'') a retired soldier with
PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...
trying to navigate life in Eastern Ukraine. It takes place in 2025, one year after the end of the war with
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. He works at a smelter with another veteran and friend, Ivan, both ostracized by other workers blaming them for fighting in the war that devastated the region. Sergiy and Ivan still train much like the war has not ended, dressing in combat uniforms and competing in high-stress target shooting. Ivan commits suicide in a smelting pot, and the factory is shut down shortly afterwards due to
economic liberalization Economic liberalization (or economic liberalisation) is the lessening of government regulations and restrictions in an economy in exchange for greater participation by private entities. In politics, the doctrine is associated with classical liber ...
rendering it nonprofitable. Sergiy then finds himself in a new job driving a water truck and delivering to areas where pollution from the war has made local sources unpotable. He has trouble adapting to his new life until he meets Katya ''(Bileka''), previously an archaeologist who now works as a humanitarian activist for the Black Tulip Mission, a volunteer organization exhuming and identifying the war dead. Sergiy is offered the opportunity to escape his situation, after saving a member of an environmental NGO from a mine, but it is implied in the conclusion that he has decided to remain with the Black Tulip Mission. The movie is bookended by stylized scenes shot by thermal camera, one of the killing of a captured sniper (later exhumed in the movie) and the other of Sergiy and Katya hugging at the conclusion of the film.


Production

None of the roles in this movie were played by actors, but rather by veterans, volunteers, and soldiers. One of the main roles was played by Andriy Rymaryk, a former military scout, who went through the
war in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
and currently works at
Come Back Alive Come Back Alive ( uk, Повернись живим) is a foundation that provides support to service members in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The foundation purchases arms and equipment to help outfit Ukrainian servicemembers. It also provide ...
, a Ukrainian NGO that helps Ukrainian soldiers through crowdfunding. Paramedic Liudmyla Bileka and volunteer Vasyl Antoniak were also in the film. Photography predominantly occurred in
Mariupol Mariupol (, ; uk, Маріу́поль ; russian: Мариу́поль) is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the 2022 Russian i ...
, from January to March 2018.


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 36 reviews, and an average rating of 7.7/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a
weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
, the film has a score of 85 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". In a positive review, Richard Abele of ''
The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' wrote, "we’re fortunate to have artists like Vasyanovych to show us what’s dazzling, strange, tragic, comic, touching and eventually optimistic about the way forward."
Joe Morgenstern Joe Morgenstern (born October 3, 1932) is an American writer and retired film critic. He wrote for ''Newsweek'' from 1965 to 1983, and then for ''The Wall Street Journal'' from 1995 to 2022. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2005. Morgen ...
of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' called the film "literally and figuratively visionary". Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four, noting that while ''Atlantis'' was "by far one of the bleakest films to come along in quite some time," it "never becomes too unbearable to watch". In another positive review, Glenn Kenny of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' compared the film's long, static takes to early work by US directors
Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
and
Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...
. In one of the film's few negative reviews, Lee Jutton of ''Film Inquiry'' noted the film's "admirable intentions" but stated that the long, slow takes left her "as cold as the barren Ukrainian plains depicted in the film." It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the
2019 Toronto International Film Festival The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film '' Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band'', directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a ...
. At the
76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Film director Lucrecia Martel was appointed as the President of the Jury. ''The Truth'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was selected to open the fest ...
, the film won the award for Best Film in the Horizons section. It was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the
93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
, but it was not nominated. The film's subject matter – an all-out war between Ukraine and Russia, in which Ukraine is able to hold back a theoretically superior Russian force – was seen by some critics and audiences as "prophetic" when the
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
sharply escalated the year after the film's release with the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.


See also

*
List of submissions to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film This is a list of submissions to the 93rd Academy Awards for the Best International Feature Film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Acade ...
*
List of Ukrainian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film Ukraine has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1997. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside ...


References


External links

* {{Ukrainian submissions for the Academy Award 2019 films 2019 drama films Films about veterans Films set in Ukraine Ukrainian drama films Ukrainian-language films 2010s dystopian films Post-apocalyptic films Films directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych