A total film with themes intimately tied to its monumental form. Everything here has a symbolic dimension; the leaden sky closes like a coffin lid over people's heads and the sun shines from behind clouds in scenes depicting the August 2020 Belarusian carnival of freedom. Motherland seeks justice for victims of the army's "hazing wave" while painting a collective portrait of a generation coming of age at a turning point in Belarusian history. The mothers of soldiers killed during the brutal initiation spend years wandering through endless official labyrinths contrast with young people tasting their last moments of freedom before being sucked into the totalitarian meat grinder. What must happen for the dogma of absolute obedience to power, passed down from generation to generation, to finally lose its hold? 

Konrad Wirkowski

WATCH DOCS nomination at the Krakow Film Festival