From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (840th day)
The Movie One Life is incredibly touching, equally heart-breaking, and uplifting. It shows how one ordinary person can make an incredible difference in what seems like an impossible situation. One person did more than international organizations with resources and influence did because he saw the need and couldn’t just walk by. It’s about compassion, courage, perseverance, and humility.
It’s also about the naivete of political leaders who believed that giving in to Hitler’s demands would stop him from wanting to take more. It is not that different from what we see now when some politicians suggest ending the war in 24 hours by giving putin part of Ukraine or maybe the whole of Ukraine – for the sake of peace and the greater good. Only giving in to bullies is not stopping them but encouraging further aggression.
The movie also shows the tragedy of war, and the suffering of the most vulnerable – the children. The events in the film happened in 1939, but 85 years later, the images on the screen painfully resemble our reality. Heartbreaking goodbyes on train station platforms as families get torn apart by war are fresh in Ukrainians’ memory and for some they are happening this very minute.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have experienced it in the first days/weeks of the war, but it continues to happen as men get drafted to war, as families have to evacuate from the towns that are in the path of ruzzian army – just recently thousands of people had to evacuate from Vovchansk, Kharkiv regions as advancing ruzzians continue to level everything to the ground in their path.
The cruelty is no different from what is shown in One Life movie. It’s not uncommon for ruzzian invaders to ban people from evacuating from places they occupy. And, of course, ruzzians have perfected the business of kidnapping and deporting Ukrainian kids to ruzzia.
If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it. It inspires action. Every act of kindness matters—it sends a ripple effect much further than you might ever know.
Voice of Ukraine 