Ironically, it is the folly of Putin’s imperial ambition that has most effectively rallied leaders and civilians to the cause of Ukrainian nationalism and the unrelenting brutality of his assault that has most strengthened solidarity for Ukraine from Western and European powers. It speaks to the spirit of resistance still motivating Ukrainians in the present moment that, for all those who fled their homes and lived outside the country as refugees, millions of civilians defiantly chose to remain in Ukraine, fighting to defend their homeland.
When he flew to Warsaw in April 2022, a little over a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukrainian-American documentary filmmaker David Gutnik intended to make a film about people displaced by the conflict. After learning of artists who’d stayed behind in the western city of Lviv, near Poland, his focus shifted, and he found himself crossing the border with a camera in hand.
“Rule of Two Walls” started shooting that month and finished production in Kyiv that November, amid blackouts caused by attacks on Ukraine’s power supply and other critical infrastructure. In that early stage of the conflict, as Russian forces bombarded cities and laid waste to urban areas, the wailing of air raid sirens became so commonplace that civilians would often choose not to seek refuge in bomb shelters. If each day might be their last, they reasoned, they did not want to spend it running for cover, bracing for impact.
The title refers to this fatalistic thought process and the liminal reality that gave rise to it: to stay safe without leaving home and maintain at least two walls between oneself and the blast impact. Living in war, distinct from simply surviving it, makes such difficult-to-imagine compromises inevitable. What’s extraordinary about Gutnik’s film is what he captures of daily life under such conditions: how, even as bombs fall and missiles arc overhead, life goes on. How can it not?
To Lviv, even getting up in the morning is a form of resistance, and a beautiful one — which is why Gutnik, who blends narrative and documentary techniques throughout his film, chooses to open “Rule of Two Walls” with a scene of two lovers in bed, sharing a lighthearted moment before the sirens sound. In his focus on musicians and artists who’ve found a way to create amid the destruction, processing their anger and grief through making art, Gutnik’s main exploration is of the continued role that Ukrainian culture plays in sustaining its society and national spirit, of the manner in which staying true to one’s artistic instincts is a signifier of profound dedication to Ukrainian cultural identity; of individual expression as collective resistance.