Educational Media Reviews Online

This film focuses on the diplomacy between the West and Russia from 2014 until Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. Its strength lies in the testimony of a dozen high-level diplomats and Francois Hollande himself. We also hear from various Ukrainian citizens from the Donbas region, whose lives have been upended forever by the violence.

There was very little said about Ukrainian politics prior to Yanukovich's sudden refusal to sign the association agreement with Europe. There's also little mention of the strategic realities and events that formed the real road to war. Instead, there's a myopic focus on the concomitant flurries of diplomacy and jawboning that Putin uses so well to distract and confuse his enemies. The film helps one understand the West's mindset. The naivete and weakness of Europe is on full display, along with the utterly tragic consequences.

Published and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Anyone can use these reviews, so long as they comply with the terms of the license.