You're reading: Film about Ukrainian sheriffs sheds light on rural life

Driving a bright yellow Lada with a Ukrainian flag attached to its roof, a pair of Ukrainian sheriffs solve minor crimes in a small community of about 1,500 people.

No, it’s not the plot of a light-hearted comedy movie – it’s the subject of a new documentary film by Ukrainian director Roman Bondarchuk called “Ukrainian Sheriffs,” which was screened at the annual Docudays movie festival in Kyiv on March 26.

The documentary zooms in on the life of two local men who were appointed sheriffs of the village Stara Zburjivka in the Kherson Oblast in the south of Ukraine. The two main characters, Viktor Kryvoborodko and Volodymyr Rudkovsky, are official advisers of the district police department, who effectively act as police officers in the village, which is surrounded by thick woodland, and which doesn’t have its own police station.

To maintain law and order in the village, its head, Viktor Marunyak, selected two volunteers to carry out policing functions.

Kryvoborodko says his is not the easiest job in the world, but somebody has to do it.

In fact, the Ukrainian sheriffs’ duties are even broader than those of regular police officers. Besides investigating crimes, they break up fights, check on lonely elderly people, and resolve all manner of disputes between locals.

The film shows the beauty of the Ukrainian countryside and in a semi-comic way portrays the monotonous rhythm of rural life. Bondarchuk said that people in the village tried to avoid being filmed at first, but after a while they opened up to the film crew, and even started to compete for the director’s attention. The resulting portrayal of their lives comes across as sincere and heartwarming.

The film raises the question what ordinary people can do to improve their quality of life. One of the film’s main themes is the life of a homeless man, Mykola Yanovskyy. We first meet Yanovskyy when the sheriffs come to his temporary abode to investigate reports he has beaten up his girlfriend. Yanovskyy is sentenced to community service work. However, as the director slowly reveals Yanovskyy’s personality, he turns from being a villain into a victim of unfortunate circumstances.

The filming of the documentary began in summer 2013 and lasted for more than a year, capturing village life during the heights of the EuroMaidan Revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine. Despite Stara Zbruivka remaining peaceful throughout all this political and military upheaval, six villagers are drafted into the army.

And this is where the film’s weak points come in.

The movie shows the sheriffs delivering call-up papers, collecting humanitarian aid for Ukrainian soldiers, and giving an inspiring speech devoted to Victory Day on May 9. But the viewer never gets a sense of what the ordinary villagers’ attitude to the war is, or if it changes or evolves during the conflict.

Another strong minus of the film is that some scenes could be confusing for a foreign audience unfamiliar with the traditions of Ukrainian village life.

Moreover, the film’s abrupt ending left some people at the screening scratching their heads and wondering if it was time to applaud.

Despite this, the film has already received the Special Jury award at Amsterdam’s International Documentary Film Festival.

The film is screened at ARTE channel in France and Germany on April 1.