RevUE of Oksana Karpovych’s JMCM Film Screening proposed by Beatrice Pedini

« Intercepted », march 31, 2025 with Oksana Karpovych.

The conference on March 31 opened with pre-recorded greetings by Oksana Karpovych, Ukrainian writer and director of the documentary Intercepted (2024), followed by its screening and a discussion moderated by Dr. Maria Popova (McGill University).

March 2022. A mother calls her son, a Russian soldier, somewhere in Ukraine. Through his eyes, we see a tank and the beginning of the destruction; through their conversation, we hear unmasked violence and the mechanisms of an imperial war laid bare. Thousands of such calls, intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence between March and November 2022, form the basis of Intercepted, which juxtaposes images of the conflict with several of these conversations, tracing the outlines of a war stripped to its cruel core. It is a film that “listens,” offering an alternative narrative of war.

Karpovych builds a tense rhythm, beginning with scenes of ordinary life in Ukraine. As the war unfolds, the soundtrack rises in a slow crescendo that follows the escalating destruction, alternating between music and the ringing of phone calls. We see the aftermath of this escalation: mass graves, empty buildings, broken homes—traces of what used to be, and no longer is.

Most soldiers show no remorse; the few calls that hint at regret are filled with empty words. They describe killing, looting, and destroying homes and lives with unsettling detachment. On the other end of the line, families often mirror this apathy. A soldier reads a message from his daughter, telling him to “quickly kill all the Ukrainians and come back.” As he speaks, we see the ruins of a Ukrainian school. The contrast between such words and these images speaks volumes about the generational roots and normalization of violence. In the final moments of the documentary, one soldier asks that his own child never be sent to war—a final flicker of realisation and lucidity amid the wreckage.

Propaganda is another constant, shaping nearly every conversation. Phrases like “Ukrainians are Nazis” recur frequently, while some soldiers seem more aware of the truth, warning their families not to believe what they see on Russian television. The emptiness at the heart of this war becomes clear when a soldier asks what they are even fighting for, and his friend replies: “for the cause.” But what is this cause? “Well… it’s just an expression.”

At the end of the screening, a general sense of unease prompted reflection on the political, emotional, and moral layers revealed in the calls. Some interventions addressed the mechanisms of dehumanisation at play in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the role of propaganda (both on the front lines and at home), and the desensitisation to death within these narratives. The film’s unique approach was also noted: it lets the voices speak for themselves.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine now stretches into its third year, and Intercepted offers a rare window into the everyday mindset that sustains the aggression—reminding us that war is not only fought with weapons, but also with silences, words, and beliefs.

Beatrice Pedini.