SOMETIMES documentaries work better than fiction. This is certainly the case with Sergei Loznitsa’s new film, The Invasion. 

Loznista was born in Belarus, grew up in Ukraine and studied film in St Petersburg. He has been an almost constant presence for the last 20 years at the Cannes Festival, bringing both documentaries and fiction features. His latest, The Invasion, is a documentary filmed over the two years since the beginning of the conflict.

It starts with a tragic prologue: the funeral of four soldiers killed in the war. A church crowded with mourners makes the impact of war immediately vivid. Loznitsa then follows the daily life of Ukrainians trying to find food and water. Unexploded mines render some places dangerous, but life must go on. A couple is getting married; the bride wears the traditional white traditional dress while the groom is in combat fatigues. A lady tells the story of her husband, a soldier now a prisoner of war in Russia.