Cinema
Under the Volcano (Pod wulkanem)
Damian Kocur (director)
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2025 (studio)
110 (length)
06 March 2025 (released)
10 March 2025
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia will in time be the subject of many films from all sides and from many perspectives.
Under the Volcano starts at the beginning with a Ukrainian family in Tenerife enjoying the last days of their holiday. They are well aware of the rising tensions at home but try to put that out their minds. Then at the airport it becomes clear what has happened.
The family return to the hotel where they are initially charged only for them to be later told they can stay and eat for free. What unfolds in director Damian Kocur’s film co-written with Marta Konarzweska is the family pulling together falling apart as the tensions start to rise, with the world carrying on regardless around them.
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That is vividly shown in a scene with the family Roma (Roman Luskyi), Nastya (Anastasyia Karpenko) with teenage daughter Sofiia (Sofia Berezovska), and pre-teen Fedir (Fedir Pugachov) are huddled near the pool in the hotel waiting for news as the guests do a conga around them.
Kocur employs this technique of vignettes and mock documentary for most of the film as when a long trek to Tenerife’s volcano goes wrong that ends in a fight. Or hearing Russian voices and laughter once too often Nastya loses it during a lunch and screams at them, in Russian.
This isn’t in line with the way that film was going as it was Sofia who was getting restless with the Russians, to the extent that she followed one back to her room. The film biases towards Sofia as she tries to call her friends, makes acquaintances on the island, and observes her parents (Nastya is her stepmother) trying to cope. Most distressing is when the town is in fiesta mode with fireworks going off all around her.
Kocur is at arm's length with the direction providing plenty of space for the actors. The experienced Luskyi and Karpenko are excellent as you’d expect. As to are newcomers Pugachov and Berezovska.
Berezovska in particular, gradually becoming the focus gives an empathetic performance as Sofia tries to deal with her social awkwardness, family issues and the world around her.
The film is primarily in Ukrainian with English, Spanish and Russian. The inclusion of the latter shouldn’t be a surprise as many Russians like to holiday in Spain and the islands and the family are bilingual. Whether there is more to read into that I wouldn’t like to guess.
Under the Volcano was the opening gala on 6 March at the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival.
Kinoteka Polish Film Festival 2025 takes place in venues across London and the UK 6 March to 25 April
For further information and tickets: https://kinoteka.org.uk/
Under the Volcano starts at the beginning with a Ukrainian family in Tenerife enjoying the last days of their holiday. They are well aware of the rising tensions at home but try to put that out their minds. Then at the airport it becomes clear what has happened.
The family return to the hotel where they are initially charged only for them to be later told they can stay and eat for free. What unfolds in director Damian Kocur’s film co-written with Marta Konarzweska is the family pulling together falling apart as the tensions start to rise, with the world carrying on regardless around them.
-------------
That is vividly shown in a scene with the family Roma (Roman Luskyi), Nastya (Anastasyia Karpenko) with teenage daughter Sofiia (Sofia Berezovska), and pre-teen Fedir (Fedir Pugachov) are huddled near the pool in the hotel waiting for news as the guests do a conga around them.
Kocur employs this technique of vignettes and mock documentary for most of the film as when a long trek to Tenerife’s volcano goes wrong that ends in a fight. Or hearing Russian voices and laughter once too often Nastya loses it during a lunch and screams at them, in Russian.
This isn’t in line with the way that film was going as it was Sofia who was getting restless with the Russians, to the extent that she followed one back to her room. The film biases towards Sofia as she tries to call her friends, makes acquaintances on the island, and observes her parents (Nastya is her stepmother) trying to cope. Most distressing is when the town is in fiesta mode with fireworks going off all around her.
Kocur is at arm's length with the direction providing plenty of space for the actors. The experienced Luskyi and Karpenko are excellent as you’d expect. As to are newcomers Pugachov and Berezovska.
Berezovska in particular, gradually becoming the focus gives an empathetic performance as Sofia tries to deal with her social awkwardness, family issues and the world around her.
The film is primarily in Ukrainian with English, Spanish and Russian. The inclusion of the latter shouldn’t be a surprise as many Russians like to holiday in Spain and the islands and the family are bilingual. Whether there is more to read into that I wouldn’t like to guess.
Under the Volcano was the opening gala on 6 March at the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival.
For further information and tickets: https://kinoteka.org.uk/
