Motherland

Svetlana has lost her son. He was found dead while doing his military service. She tries to shed light on the culture of violence in the Belarusian military. At the same time, a group of young friends from the techno scene are drafted themselves. It's 2020 and activists are protesting on the streets of Minsk against state violence rooted in "dedovshchina," the cruel mistreatment that supposedly turns boys into soldiers but is instead the very mechanism of fear and violence the government uses to control its population. "Dedovshchina" literally means "rule of the great fathers" and stands for a repressive system, the bullying of younger conscripted soldiers by older ones, which is still common in the Russian and other post-Soviet armed forces.

Keywords

  • Award Winning
  • déjà-vu FILM
  • Exclusive Docs: New Perspectives
  • Politics: Human Rights
  • Sooner Exclusives
  • activism
  • civil society
  • corruption
  • eastern europe
  • justice
  • mourning
  • politics
  • psychology

Director

  • Alexander Mihalkovich
  • Hanna Badziaka

Documentary, Independent


1h 32min


16+

BE


DE

Norway
Sweden
Ukraine
2023
A disturbing and brutal delve into the dark and violent underbelly of military conscription in Belarus.

A disturbing and brutal delve into the dark and violent underbelly of military conscription in Belarus.


Svetlana has lost her son. He was found dead while doing his military service. She tries to shed light on the culture of violence in the Belarusian military. At the same time, a group of young friends from the techno scene are drafted themselves.


It's 2020 and activists are protesting on the streets of Minsk against state violence rooted in "dedovshchina," the cruel mistreatment that supposedly turns boys into soldiers but is instead the very mechanism of fear and violence the government uses to control its population.


"Dedovshchina" literally means "rule of the great fathers" and stands for a repressive system, the bullying of younger conscripted soldiers by older ones, which is still common in the Russian and other post-Soviet armed forces.

Cast & Crew