Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Not currently available on demand
Ten-year-old Oleg lives in the eastern part of Ukraine — a warzone that often echoes with anti-aircraft fire and mortar fire. “The Distant Barking Of Dogs” follows the life of Oleg over a year, witnessing the gradual erosion of his innocence beneath the pressures of war. While many have already left this dangerous area, Oleg remains with his grandmother, Alexandra who has taken care of him since the death of his mother. Having no other place to go, Oleg and Alexandra stay and watch as others leave the village. Where Oleg and Alexandra are the only true constants in each other’s lives, the film shows just how fragile, but crucial, close relationships are for survival.
Through Oleg’s perspective, the film examines what it means to grow up in a warzone. It portrays how a child’s universal struggle to discover what the world is about becomes interlaced with all the dangers and challenges the conflict presents. While waiting for the war to end, Oleg enjoys hanging out with his younger cousin Yarik and an older boy, Kostya. Together they go on adventures, talk about what makes a real man, and test each other’s boundaries, sometimes going too far.
A tender opening scene depicts Oleg and Alexandra as they are, working through their morning routine of chopping firewood. Televised reports of the ongoing war loom in the background, drowning out their simple moments of laughter as they prepare to visit Oleg’s mother’s grave. Standing above his mother’s grave, Oleg asks her: “I miss you. Do you miss me too?”
The inescapable narrative of war follows Oleg everywhere he goes. In his classroom, lectured by military personnel on the dangers of living in a warzone, the children eagerly share their stories of the different mines they’ve identified.
After school, Oleg travels with friends, exploring abandoned buildings and collecting shells of bullets along the way. They discuss their encounters with falling bombs and the deaths they cause, making distinctions between “people” and “soldiers.”
Alexandra describes the sounds of a shell exploding just two houses away onto a neighbor’s home, decapitating their neighbor in the falling debris. Throughout the film, she expresses her responsibility to the boys’ safety—there is strength in their bond, but soon the extended family will be separated from one another.
In an exhausted lecture, she explains to the boys that Yarik and his mom will be moving in with a soldier that Yarik’s mother has fallen in love with, far away to safety.
When Oleg and Alexandra are left alone after their departure, Oleg partners with Kostya to explore their surroundings. Collecting sticks as bombs echo in the near distance, Kostya asks Oleg if he wants to go home, to which Oleg responds to the older boy, “No. We’re men. We have to be able to endure everything.”
Shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature for the 91st Academy Awards
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Credits:
Director: Simon Lereng Wilmont. Producers: Monica Hellström, Sami Jahnukainen, Tobias Janson. Editor: Michael Aaglund. Original Music: Uno Helmersson, Erik Enocksson. Executive Producers for POV: Justine Nagan and Chris White.
“‘The Distant Barking Of Dogs’ provides a devastating portrait of childhood in the midst of war,” said Justine Nagan, executive producer/executive director for POV/American Documentary. “The boys’ evolving sense of masculinity, their proximity to violence, and the tender stewardship of Alexandra make for a unique understanding of what it means to grow up in a warzone.
