Based on Real Events: Ukrainian Historical Cinema of the Early XXI Century

Abstract

The article provides an analysis of the development of Ukrainian historical cinema at the beginning of the XXI century through the prism of genre formation in the latest socio-economic and political conditions. The definition of historical cinema, its main features, the problem of identical reflection of real events in feature films are considered. The author summarizes and complements the definition of historical cinema as a genre of cinematography, defines its main features. A historical feature film has its own characteristics and one of the main is that it should not reflect the events of the past or present with full historical documentation, while maintaining the so-called «spirit of the era» through costumes, locations, props, language. The task of this genre is to show the heroes, or the hero against the background of the era, historical events through the worldview of individuals, which may be both real, and the result of director’s imagination. A feature historical film looks like a work on a historical theme, in which there are real and fictional characters, the latter can be the main characters, and the real - supporting. This work is full not so much of attempts to screen events on the documentary basis, as to reconstruct certain historical events on the basis of documents, but with an author’s-director’s viewing. The article describes Ukrainian films based on historical events, considers the problem of reliability of historical processes reflected in Ukrainian cinema, the peculiarities of the formation of the image of a hero. Historical films are an indispensable element in the process of national-patriotic education, a reflection of historical events that have long been silenced by official historical science in Soviet times, a means of forming national identity and historical memory.