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Intercepted (film)
Intercepted is a 2024 Ukrainian-Canadian-French documentary film that merges the intercepted phone calls of Russian soldiers in Ukraine with their families back home with images of the destruction caused by the invasion.[1][2] The film is written and directed by Oksana Karpovych. SynopsisThe film vividly portrays the devastating aftermath of war: shattered homes, demolished bridges, and charred machinery. The static visuals are accompanied by audio recordings of intercepted phone calls between Russian soldiers and their families, captured by Ukrainian intelligence since the start of the full-scale invasion and regularly published online. In these calls, the soldiers discuss Russia's military ambitions, brag about their victories, boast about the trophies they plan to take home, and share their worries and fears about the direction the invasion is taking. Some admit to having tortured and killed people, including civilians. ProductionThe film took approximately two years to complete. Filming began in 2022 and wrapped up in 2024, with footage captured in Donbas, as well as the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions. ReceptionOn the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 12 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[4] Monica Castillo of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "It's easy to write off combatants as just an enemy but Karpovych's film tries to understand them, how and why they've justifying killing civilians on sight, enacting horrifying amounts of torture, or why they're invading Ukraine's borders in the first place. And while the voices of Ukrainians are not featured in Intercepted, their resilience dominates the frame of Karpovych's observational documentary."[5] The film won the Grand Prize for National Feature at the 2024 Montreal International Documentary Festival.[6] References
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