"Bucha": A Film About Torture, Rape, and Other Atrocities That Regular People Can Watch

Ukrainian script writer Oleksandr Shchur faced a seemingly impossible problem: How could he create a movie about Russia’s invasion of his country without making the movie so dark and troubling that no one would watch it?  

After all, the Russian invasion involves mass murder, torture, rape, and neighborhoods bombed to rubble. Fortunately for us, Shchur and his colleague, director Stanislav Tiunov, found a way to answer the following question: “Why would any normal person choose to engage with a subject so disturbing?”

The answer is genius. They wrote and directed the film, Bucha, in such a way that the rapes and murders or bombed cities aren’t shown. Instead, as the story unfolds, we know atrocities happened, but they happen out of the camera’s view. It’s a remarkable achievement, suggesting pain and horror while never showing it.  

For example, you might know a young girl has been raped. And yet you know it not from seeing it, but by seeing her afterwards in an underground prison. From her face, her posture, how she interacts with her mother, there’s no doubt what happened. But Shchur didn’t make you watch it. Over and over again, there are scenes where you know what happened, but you didn’t see it. 

Shchur’s and Tiunov’s superpower is their mutual ability to more than counterbalance what’s dark and heavy with an inspiring and uplifting true story that’s one of courage and heroism. Under their guidance, you get to see what filmmakers refer to as “the hero’s journey." In this case, the hero’s journey is the real-life experience of Konstantin Gudauskas, an ordinary man called to greatness.

Gudauskas is a citizen of Kazakhstan, a country friendly to Russia. However, at the time of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Gudauskas was living in Bucha, one of the towns near Kyiv which the Russians were occupying. 

Fortunately for Gudauskas and also fortunately for 203 Ukrainian residents of Bucha, Gudauskas’ country and Russia have close fraternal relations. With a Kazakhstani passport, the Russians manning the checkpoints recognized him as a citizen of a brother country and would allow him to pass through areas that Ukrainians themselves couldn’t pass.    

The film Bucha is the story of how over and over again Gudauskas put his life on the line to rescue 203 Ukrainian citizens from a city now closely identified with the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by Russian forces. His unexpected transformation from what had been a normal life began when a close friend asked for help with getting his family out of the city.

Gudauskas’ friend desperately wanted to get his wife and children out as soon as Bucha became a death trap as a result of the occupation. Russians were known to be shooting people randomly, as well as raping women and torturing men. Word spread that those still alive in Bucha couldn’t leave their houses to retrieve the bodies of their husbands or children. If they did, the invaders might shoot them too. During the occupation, people spoke about how dogs in the street were eating the corpses of their neighbors.

Soldiers walk through a ruined Bucha. (The Sun/YouTube)

Gudauskas initially resisted his friend’s call for help. He knew he might be able to affect a rescue because, as a citizen of Kazakhstan, he had the papers that would enable him to pass the Russian checkpoints. But he also knew that if he irritated the wrong border guard, he could be shot.

However, once he experienced the gratitude from saving one man’s family, he found that he couldn’t stop. The film tells stories from the different times he risked his life.

As with any good story, there’s an antagonist, a Russian officer. Although characters in Bucha are based on real people, the Russian officer is the exception. Shchur read police reports and open source information with the result that the Russian officer in the movie, FSB colonel Nikolay Ivanovich, is an amalgamation of what several Russian officers did and said.

The dialogue involving the Russian is, Shchur believes, an accurate reflection of the thinking of the invaders. “I wanted to show their ideology,” Shchur says, “including how they believe that Ukraine doesn’t exist at all.”  

Shchur knows that many Russians believe that Ukrainians who oppose a Russian takeover are dirt or filth, and that killing them is necessary to cleanse Ukraine. Ivonovich says about the Ukrainian men, “They are dirt [and] we are here to cleanse you from this dirt."

As the story unfolds, you realize that the Shchur-Tiunov team are masters at maintaining the tempo; each rescue is emotional, with nail-biting suspense and tension. The movie is both a drama and a genuine thriller.  

It’s also much more. Watching it will give everyone a deep understanding of why Ukrainians don’t want to live under the brutality and torture that accompanies a Russian occupation.

Shchur and Tiunov are currently in negotiations with several distributors and streaming services to release the film. They’re also looking for additional proposals.  

Bucha manages to combine a drama, a thriller, and a historical event into a must-see experience. This writer expects that when distributors see the film, they’ll want it. Watch for it!