Exiled Russian Filmmaker Takes Aim at Putin’s War in Oscar Bid
Exiled Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev’s new drama “Minotaur,” which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and is an Oscar contender, examines conscription and moral compromise in wartime Russia. Adapted from a Claude Chabrol thriller and filmed in Latvia, the film follows a logistics owner pressured by local authorities to sacrifice workers for the front line.
Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev confronts President Putin's war in Ukraine with his film "Minotaur." The drama, released after Moscow's invasion, explores conscription and moral compromise. The movie, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes and is an Oscar nominee for best international film, depicts Russian conscripts boarding a bus to the front, with a father bidding farewell to his teenage son, while a mother screams in anguish.
Later, a billboard image shows an older recruit dead and hailed as a war hero. Gleb, the film's protagonist, is a logistics company owner grappling with his wife's affair and local pressure to identify 14 employees for military service. Zvyagintsev, who fled Russia in 2021, remains skeptical about the film's impact on opinion. He believes art's subtleties can shape perceptions over time.
Zvyagintsev reframed his original plan to remake "La Femme Infidele" into a story about Russia's political and moral condition, using a Latvian town as a stand-in for filming. The film opens in French cinemas on October 14.
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