Heroes to appear on TV screens

For a while, Internet has been circulating the information on the filming of several patriotic motion pictures about the struggle of our courageous soldiers in the east. But no footage so far; not even a trailer to tease the audience hungry for this topic – all that is left to the viewer is documentary. Instead, in our TVs we might see Russian melodramatic series; and “Brave hearts” (1+1), the only production to feature our heroes in modern genre, has been suspended.

Recently, a group of Lithuanian and Ukrainian media experts have gathered to discuss collective resistance to Russian propaganda; on that meeting, the first developments of The Guard had been shown. A soon-to-be feature film in four series was presented by Oleksii Shaparev (a young director already known for his works, such as Kyiv Cake, Eskimo Girl, The Price of Freedom and others). He said that The Guard would feature a story of the early volunteers, who responded to the National Guard’s draft call immediately after the bloody events on Maidan. “They differ in age, social status, family circumstances – but they are united in the eagerness to protect Ukraine. That’s why they went to the boot camp. Here a motley and sometimes even conflicting company must undergo a training that will make them the real fighters,” the director told The Day.

On the presentation, the show’s cast has been revealed – Oleksii Horbunov, Akhtem Seitablaiev, Dmytro Stupka, Kostiantyn Shaforenko, Vano Yantabelidze will play leading roles. Mykola Rybalka (who wrote the scripts for Haytarma, The Two, The Pillbox, Champions From the Gateway etc.) will be the screenwriter for this movie, and Anatolii Khymych will be the cinematographer. The timeline for each series is 45 minutes. The show will premiere on 2+2 TV channel in late March, on the anniversary of the National Guard’s establishment.

“In the story, the protagonist, starred by Oleksii Horbunov, agrees to help his longtime army comrade and accepts leadership over the group of young scouts. In fact, the most part of the movie is about the preparation for battle,” continues Shaparev. “There will be a story of relations between the lieutenant, who was on the one side of Maidan barricades, and the sotnyk, who was on the other. But eventually they develop a mutual understanding in their fight for Ukraine. Having a common enemy, they become brothers in arms. The filming time was abridged because we wanted to finish the production before the National Guard’s anniversary, but I hope the quality will not suffer on account of this. We started the work in October, when the script was ready, and the actual shooting took place in December. The filming sites were different; in Vasylkiv, to name one, we received a lot of help from the local military base. The officers just phoned me and offered their assistance in making of what they said to be a very important movie. And indeed, they did what they could, for instance, provided us with armored vehicles and a helicopter… certainly, after attending to all the required paperwork with the defense ministry. Naturally, I will be happy if, above all, the military likes the show.”

The episodes shown on the presentation might create an impression of the film being entirely in Russian, as this was the language some characters spoke. However, the director ensured that The Guard will feature multiple languages: Ukrainian, Russian, and even Georgian. “We did not want to make a movie in a single language,” Oleksii Shaparev replied. “The characters will speak Ukrainian, Russian, and a bit of Georgian. For instance, the sotnyk will communicate only in Ukrainian, but the lieutenant – in Russian. Regardless of the language, these people are ready to sacrifice their lives for Ukraine’s independence. In general, we really need such movies today – as many people learn history through the television. And it is a valuable instrument our country should use to achieve victory.”