UNDER THE VOLCANO at AFI Fest 2024
By William J. Hammon, ActuallyPaid.com
Like Intercepted (and sadly many other films over the last two years), Poland’s Academy submission, Under the Volcano, deals with the invasion of Ukraine. Unlike most other works on the subject, however, the crisis is portrayed vicariously through those who can only learn of their homeland’s fate from others and have no means of coping because they have no support system.
The Kovalenko family is on vacation in the Canary Islands, specifically Tenerife. The foursome have their fun, though teenage Sofia (Sofia Berezovska) is a little introverted by comparison. They’re set to check out and head home to Kyiv in less than a day, but as they’re packing their bags, the news breaks that Russian has begun its assault. Under the circumstances, the hotel allows them to stay free of charge until they can find their way home, but that’s the least of their problems. Father Roman (Roman Lutskyi) is slowly losing his grip due the stress and feelings of hopelessness in not being there to fight alongside his neighbors. Stepmother Anastasiia (Anastasiia Karpenko) has to tread lightly, fearing that she’ll alienate her husband and step-children by asserting her own fears and needs. All three of them have to work in tandem to make sure that the youngest, Fedir (Fedir Pugachov), remains blissfully ignorant of how dire the situation is.
Filtering all of this uncertainty through Sofia is a bold but genius creative decision, as the angst of the war mirrors her angst as a regular teenager, feeling that she’s got no place in the world and looking for any kind of sympathetic ear and outside perspective. She finds solace and friendship from an African refugee named Michael (Isaac Awuah), but even that is fleeting, as she feels her family drifting apart, and it becomes almost unbearable to see a Russian family at the same resort living it up as if nothing’s going on.
There are a few trite moments here and there, as well as a couple of scenes that feel tacked on purely for the sake of teen drama, but when the focus is on the idea of being trapped in paradise, or isolated in a massive crowd, those moments hit hard. Growing up is its own unnavigable conflict, and to use that as a microcosm for the senseless campaign of violence and destruction we’ve watched unfold over the last two and a half years is a much-needed humanist touch.
Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on November 25, 2024.
