Before he leaves to go to war, Artem, 18, says goodbye to the man who raised him

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Artem, 18, is barely out of adolescence, yet he is determined to fight for his homeland of Ukraine – and prepared to die for the cause if necessary. Anatoliy, 88, his foster-grandfather, regrets Artem’s choice, even if he might have understood it once. Anatoliy fought the Nazis in the Second World War and suffered heavy losses – as indeed has Artem, whose father died more recently in Afghanistan. Framed around the veteran’s handheld camcorder footage of the young recruit’s final days at home, The Last Tape is a powerful look at war across the generational divide, by the directors Igor Kosenko and Cyprien Clément-Delmas. Shot in 2016, years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the film also subtly reflects on the cyclical nature of war, and of human nature.

Via Short of the Week