Directed by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova & Simon Mozgovyi, the documentary to come out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival has no main actor or character. The documentary captures the human condition through the fractured realities of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The film pieces together everyday lives transformed by war — those who flee, those who lose everything, and those who stay to resist and fight — tracing both the instinct to survive and the need for closeness. Amid devastation and atrocity, the human is absorbed into war — and war, in turn, becomes part of the human.

When I first heard this title, I had no idea what to expect. I had a hunch that it would be about the military, but I had no idea it was going to follow the war in Ukraine. What’s ironic is that earlier in the day before I even watched this, I had the thought that I still hadn’t seen a perfect documentary this year yet nor have I felt where a documentary has been that popular. That all changed after watching this movie.

20 Days in Mariupol was my favorite documentary of 2023, and this could very well be my favorite of 2025. What’s going on over there shouldn’t be happening. To be honest, war shouldn’t be happening period. The repercussions of what happens to those involved is awful. That’s what makes this film great. By immersing you into the climate, you better get the sense of what the feeling is like.

As of lately, some of my favorite films have been Perfect Days and Warfare. They are both polar opposites in terms of tone & style, but immersing you into the feeling is an incredible feat in filmmaking. This film immerses you into the situation with its camera work, sound design, and pacing. I wish I could have seen this in the theater to better immerse myself into the film.

What this film captures is unreal. The cinematic look and the way it captures the violence & trauma doesn’t even look real. It looks like something you only see in fictional movies. There’s something about how real the film looks that makes you feel the trauma these people endure.

The sound design never faults. It captures every little detail in every scene to help us better understand what every single scene feels like for those involved. It even captures some of the dialogue. Even though it never follows a particular character, we still get to see what these people are thinking.

For a film that’s close to 2 hours, I was initially worried with how it would work with its style. I never once felt like it was too long. It feels evenly paced to help immerse you better into the film. I personally wouldn’t have minded it going on longer, but the film still manages to get its point across.

Even though we have had different documentaries throughout the years, this one still manages to stand out on its own. By just capturing moments of this war, there is still a through line that helps explore its themes of how people live in the middle of a war. Even though it becomes a part of their personality, they still want to be good and be there for one another.

Overall, through its approach, Militantropos manages to be not only one of the best documentaries of the year, but one of the best movies of the year. Through its immersion, you better understand and feel what these people are feeling. It’s not an easy watch, but it is a vital one to watch and understand.

VERDICT: 5/5 (Perfect)