Berlin review: Sean Penn’s Ukraine documentary “Superpower” gets close to super-inspiring war leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy

About three quarters of the way in super power, the documentary about the war in Ukraine, directed by Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman, shows the Oscar winner wielding a fixed-blade knife as he drives through the disputed country. He jokes into the camera: “All of Ukraine should feel safe now that I’m armed.” He adds, fists clenched like a boxer’s, “I have this one too.”

It’s a rare moment of levity in a film that otherwise unfolds with deadly seriousness, and for good reason: Ukraine has been struggling for nearly a year to survive a brutal and unprovoked invasion by Russian President Vladimir Putin. . The takeover title had its world premiere tonight on April 73^edit Berlin Film Festival. It serves an important function in explaining the stakes of a war that some Americans might dismiss as “out there” (as many Americans did in the early days of World War I and World War II).

Penn, as the audience leader, brings vital moral clarity to the violent conflict, emphasizing that we must find “common cause” in Ukraine’s struggle for democratic freedoms and independence from a totalitarian aggressor.

“Ukraine represents the greatest aspiration that we should all share,” Penn says, warning that “there’s no way it’s going to be on everyone’s doorstep,” meaning those of us living in Western democracies. “It doesn’t matter if Ukraine is a NATO country or not.”

As is often the case with documentaries, the project initially began with a very different goal: to portray Ukraine’s recently elected leader, former actor, comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who as then-president in 2019 at the US domestic politics became involved, Trump urged. him to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter (the incident that led to Trump’s first impeachment).

Penn and a team that included co-director Kaufman and producer Billy Smith traveled to Ukraine in November 2021 with an agreement that they would spend time with Zelenskyy. While waiting for the interview, Penn and his team traveled around Ukraine, talking to military personnel, civilians and others (one Ukrainian soldier told Penn he didn’t think Zelenskyy was the best cojones Dealing with Putin). The footage shows Penn educating himself, and by extension the public, about the roots of the conflict: the 2014 Euromaidan revolution that ousted Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin president, and Russia’s almost immediate response to annex Crimea (an aggressive act that elicits only the mildest of rebukes from President Obama).

The West may have largely ignored it, but Ukrainians knew from then on that they were locked in an armed conflict with Russia as Putin fueled a separatist movement in the Donbass region in the east. But when Russia began massing troops, weapons and armored vehicles near the border with Ukraine in late 2021, many outside observers, and perhaps even Zelensky himself, doubted that Putin would invade. Penn was one of the naysayers.

“I didn’t think it was going to happen,” he admits.

super power plays like a visceral political thriller, with the requisite tension-building score, GPS coordinates noted for filming locations, and “digital computer-like” sound effects used to accompany fonts. It is only 54 minutes into the film that Penn gets his long-awaited meeting with Zelenskyy at the Presidential Palace. As fate would have it, the meeting was scheduled for February 24, 2022, the date of the final invasion of Russia. Remarkably, the Ukrainian president stuck to the deal even as his country faced widespread attacks.

“Good, great that you’re here,” said Zelenskyy Penn warmly. One wonders why he would meet the actor-director at such a time, but a clue is given as the President adds in somewhat broken English: “It’s very important now, all support. I think you are a voice that Americans need to hear.

This exchange offers insight into Zelenskyi’s realization that Ukraine’s fate lies not only in Kiev, but 5,000 miles away in Washington DC. The nation’s defense will depend heavily on the Biden administration’s willingness to support Ukraine. Government courage will depend on American public opinion in the long run. Zelenskyy, one can infer, understood that Penn could help him make his case for direct aid to the American people.

This is just one example of Zelenskyy’s wise and inspiring leadership at a time when his nation’s existential threat was under threat. Penn rightly expresses unabashed admiration for his ability to handle the dangerous situation (Zelenskyy turned down an American offer of safe haven from Ukraine immediately after the invasion, reportedly saying, “I need ammunition, not not a ride.”) Volodymyr shares a similar first name to his Russian counterpart, but that’s where the similarities end. Putin has turned out to be a bloodthirsty monster who brutally and deliberately targets Ukrainian citizens, including the elderly, children and even pregnant women – who witnessed the bombing of a Mariupol maternity hospital in March 2022. Zelenskyy on the other hand – well, Penn characterizes him like this in one emotional interview with a Russian journalist:

“I believe with all my heart that this is a man of love, intelligence and courage,” he says, his voice cracking, “and I still believe that leadership with love is the most powerful weapon in the world.”

super power serve a critical purpose; It is not only a compelling portrait of bravery under fire – demonstrated by Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian armed forces and his people – but also a moving defense of democracy and the human desire for freedom. Some viewers might be tempted to roll their eyes at a “celebrity” investigating a geopolitical crisis, but that would be an unfair and cynical proposition in my opinion. This is not some left-wing Hollywood spouting liberal ideology; This is a man who is passionate about values ​​that should win universal bipartisan approval. Penn, I might add, comes across as a succinct and insightful interviewer when working with a variety of interlocutors, including diplomats, Ukrainian defense officials, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and veteran journalists.

The documentary raises pressing questions, such as whether we should admit we have already entered World War III and whether the Biden administration’s approach to supporting Ukraine — blocking advanced weapons that would enable a decisive victory — is the war ended and guaranteed a stalemate. which ultimately favored Russia.

As Zelenskyy puts it in one of his conversations with Penn, his country will be able to withstand just enough to stay alive, but not to win. To make his point clear, he uses a bird metaphor.

“You need two wings to fly,” he tells Penn. “Don’t give me a wing and [then say], ‘When do you fly?’ I will never fly with one wing.”