In The Rearview

The scale of the refugee crisis that unfolded in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is brought home through the microcosm of a single vehicle in Maciek Hamela’s moving documentary.

More than a million people fled the country in a single week, a number that it becomes difficult to wrap your head around. Hamela shows just a handful of those who are leaving, taken by the director-cum-aid-worker in his minivan from Ukraine to safety in Poland.

Through the course of the film we’ll get to meet an assortment of those who will be crammed into the vehicle for the journey. All looking for safety, many understandably full of disbelief and traumatised by what is happening. The sense of loss is palpable, as multiple generations of families talk about what they’ve had to leave behind, often animals, but also loved ones, including a dad who is about to join the army and a family member who has to stay because there is simply not enough room for them in the van.

The cameras remain on the passengers, the journeys skilfully edited together by Piotr Oginski so that we get a sense of the enormity of the situation while still being immersed in the fabric of these lives torn asunder in the short time we spend with each group.

Beyond the stories that unfold within the vehicle, the tension of these journeys, often on dirt tracks in rural areas, is brought home. Check points are everywhere while Hamela worries about mines on the road, the possibility of this evidenced by blown up bridges that make him change route. Ravaged buildings are a constant companion while the sound of warfare is never far away.

Violence fully enters the picture as a Congolese woman who needs surgery after being shot is transported whole Hamela furiously phones around as he batters at a wall of obstacles that seems to have been thrown up because she is classed as “a foreigner”.

One person notes, “We only left because of the kids” and it’s the youngsters we see on these journeys who are the most heartbreaking. One child tries to explain a concept to another child. “‘Worried’ is where your granny is afraid your house will be hit by a bomb,” he says. Another little girl has stopped talking completely after being in a room that was bombed. As the conflict continues, it seems the road back for many is still a long way away.