VIDEOS. Three sequences to remember from Bernard-Henri Lévy’s new documentary on the war in Ukraine

Bernard-Henri Lévy continues his “travelogue” of the war in Ukraine. After Why UkraineThen Slava Ukraine, Ukraine at the heart is the third film that the writer devotes to the conflict. Broadcast Tuesday November 14 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2, the documentary, produced with Marc Roussel, shows the daily life of “citizen-soldiers” Ukrainians on the front, sometimes a few hundred meters from the lines of the Russian army. The philosopher also goes to meet war wounded, the Jewish community of Dnipro and foreign fighters.

While the fighting has been going on since February 2022 and does not seem ready to stop, Bernard-Henri Lévy sees this new documentary as a way to fight against the excessive temptation to look away.

“I’ve known for almost two years that the main enemy of Ukrainians is indifference, fatigue of opinions and our weariness. That’s why I made three films.”

Bernard-Henri Levy, director

at franceinfo

The philosopher also intends to show the heroism of these citizens who became fighters driven by an ideal. “I have been covering this war since the first weeks and what strikes me is the undamaged morale of the Ukrainians, which commands respecthe insists. On the one hand, an army which does not know why it is fighting and on the other, an army which is inhabited by values ​​which are greater than itself. Franceinfo has selected three extracts from this new dive into the hell of war.

The disillusionment of a Russian prisoner

Bernard-Henri Lévy interviews a Russian fighter, taken prisoner by the Ukrainian soldiers. Wounded, this man recounts how he arrived at the front. “I committed to clearing my criminal record and benefiting from an amnesty”, he testifies. But he did not join the ranks of the Russian army, nor was he employed behind the front, as he had expected, having no military experience. “We were given to a private military companyhe denounces. They told us: ‘You were sold for 25,000 rubles each’.” This is how he found himself on the front line. “They sent us straight to death”he concludes, bitterly.

“I wanted this scene because it’s a kind of terrifying survey of the state of the Russian army, explains Bernard-Henri Lévy . What are they telling us? Demoralization, unpreparedness, ignominy of commanders who treat them like slaves. They lack the real fuel for victory which is morale, which they do not have. You can only win a war when you know why you did it.”

The pride of an injured Ukrainian fighter

The documentary shows the scars of this conflict, forever engraved in the flesh of Ukrainian soldiers. Bernard-Henri Lévy and Marc Roussel’s camera slides over these broken faces, convalescing in a hospital and rehabilitation center in Lviv, in the west of the country. The Superhumans Center which attempts to repair mutilated bodies and traumatized minds. At the age of 20, Rouslana enlisted, fought and was seriously injured, to the point of having one of her legs amputated.

Rouslana considers that this terrible experience gave meaning to her existence. “Before I was injured, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my lifeshe explains. Everything changed in that moment, it changed my life. Now I know I can change the lives of others. (…) I do not regret my decision to go to war and defend my country. I am proud.” Some of these seriously wounded just want to return to the front and fight for their homeland despite their handicap.

Help provided by Israeli veterans

Many foreign fighters have come to lend support to Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the conflict. Among them, Israeli veterans. These former IDF soldiers provide their support and expertise to Ukrainian fighters who are sometimes less experienced in military tactics. “In the Israeli army you have to be aggressiveexplains one of them. Here, we have not learned to be aggressive. Just defend yourself, fight. You must force yourself and destroy the enemy.”

Supported and armed by its Western allies, the Ukrainian army has been standing up to the plethora of Russian troops for months. A David versus Goliath fight that resonates in the minds of Israeli veterans. “In big countries, sometimes, we don’t always think that little soldiers can do something. In Israel, it’s different. We don’t have many men”explains Israeli soldier Sacha.

This meeting between Bernard-Henri Levy and these IDF veterans engaged on the Ukrainian front has particularly resonated since the war broke out between Hamas and Israel, after the terrorist attacks by the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil on October 7. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself expressed his fear that the conflagration in the Middle East could “diverts attention” of the international community of the fighting which continues in Ukraine. A lack of interest which could serve the interests of Russian power.

A concern shared by Bernard-Henri Levy: “There are members of Congress in the United States who have explicitly called for aid to Ukraine to be canceled and transferred to Israel. This idea saddens me. I too, of course, live in times of the war in Israel. But I have two clocks. I also live on Ukrainian time. And I would be revolted if this war became a forgotten war. More relevant than ever is the appeal that I am launching, in the last minutes of the film, to deliver to Kiev the weapons necessary for victory.”

The documentary Ukraine at the heartdirected by Bernard-Henri Lévy and Marc Roussel, is broadcast Tuesday November 14 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.