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dontforgetukraine · 5 months ago

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TIFF: And so it continues... 2

Headline from news site The Globe and Mail: "Russians at War is an exceptional documentary and needs to be seen" written by Marsha Lederman (Source)

This is the opinion piece about the film "Russians at War" that gave me incredible psychic damage. Let's explore it, shall we?

Marsha first describes the film as a "brave and exceptional documentary. It shows, unvarnished, the horrors of the war". She then explains the latest situation with TIFF canceling the film. (It's actually suspended, Marsha, according to TIFF, but this inaccuracy is the least of my concerns compared to the rest of the bullshit you wrote.)

While TIFF obviously must keep audiences safe, the anger around this film is unjustified. It is a cowardly move to work to suppress this courageous film. And it is a mistake. This documentary in no way glorifies Russia or its army or its war effort. This film in no way demonizes Ukraine or its people.

Marsha just spat in the faces of Ukrainians everywhere. She doesn't explore why there is outrage over this film or what the Russian propaganda points are (Again, the points are in the damn trailer!). Apparently Ukrainian anger is unjustified, despite the Russian subjugation, imperialism, and propaganda they have suffered, including this film. Ukrainian anger is unjustified despite how they constantly have to fight against Russia's narratives about them.

Protesting something this egregious is not cowardly. Ukraine's fight against Russia and its narratives is not cowardly. This film is not free speech but paid speech. And this film is not courageous. Marsha clearly didn't look into the director, how she has 11 films with RT, how she lied about coordinating with the command to get a military uniform so she wouldn't get shot by the Russians (hmmm, why would they shoot her, I wonder?), or how she illegally crossed the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine and probably violated Canadian sanctions. :)

Also, from everything I have read, not much sympathy is given for the Ukrainians. But what is expressed is nostalgia for a time when Ukraine was denied the right to exist. There is no remorse or examination of war crimes that happened elsewhere, nor is there remorse for invading.

Btw, Marsha missed the part about Russians calling Ukrainians fascists and Nazis, which is one of the major justifications for Russia entering the war.

Propaganda? Please. Triumph of the Will this is not. This is eye-opening and gutting. The only “propaganda” this documentary serves up is an anti-war message that should be delivered as far and wide as possible. The experience of watching the film has something in common with war: you can’t wait for it to be over. It is excruciating.

IT'S IN THE DAMN TRAILER!!!

Marsha is either in on it or is too ignorant and uninformed to recognize it. The end result is the same. She didn't even bother to look up what the propaganda points are! They are so easily to find! Ask an expert like Timothy Snyder for fuck's sake before you post this irresponsible drivel. You fell for the Kremlin's propaganda like how a snake eats an egg! You swallowed it whole without question!

-"Russia and Ukraine have always been inseparable. I miss the brotherly union."

This is nostalgia for an era when the Ukrainian nation state was denied the right to exist.

This is part of the narrative that Ukraine cannot exist without Russia.

Putin has stated this narrative too, saying Ukraine is inseparable from Russian history and culture.

-"An order was given, we went in."

Seriously, where have we heard that line before, I wonder...

The director suggests the Russian soldiers are just tools in a larger political game.

This is part of the narrative that it's Putin's war and his alone. Ordinary Russians are innocent and should not be punished. Ordinary Russians committed war crimes willingly. They've been rewarded with money, medals, and awards. Ordinary Russians invaded Ukraine. To shift the blame to a higher command is to absolve them of their crimes.

The supposed "oppositionists" to Putin that were exchanged recently even parroted how ordinary Russians shouldn't be punished and how sanctions should be lifted.

-"If I'm fighting in a fight, I always need to know that i'm right." ; "I came today so that my kids don't go tomorrow"

This is the narrative that Russia was right all along to invade Ukraine in order to fight NATO's expansion and encroachment on its sphere of influence.

Furthermore, the narrative ignores the reason why countries that have experienced Russian imperialism and aggression want to join NATO in the first place. Sovereign nations should be able to decide what to do with their futures. NATO isn't encroaching on anything.

There's a scene where Russian soldiers are talking to their families on the phone, thus promoting Russians are fighting for their families and children while ignoring the fact they are the aggressors who came to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians and Ukrainian children and seize their territory.

-"Whataboutism" from the classic Russian propaganda playbook.

Russia amplifies supposed neutral voices that are "asking questions" such as the director, but might not necessarily want clear cut and defined answers.

This derails clear cut moral cases to distract and confuse people from the actual problem of Russia being the aggressor and invading. This is done to promote inaction and indecision to the problem.

"I saw no war-crimes" is an attempt to excuse and white-wash war crimes. To cast doubt on culpability.

-The director stated she saw no war-crimes committed.

The director doesn't examine the idea that any war-crimes may have been screened from being put in the film

The director doesn't examine that they have occurred in other places at other times.

No mention about victims, witnesses, or survivors.

-Aggressive Victimhood

Humanizing the aggressor diminishes the will to assist in fighting back against the aggressor.

"Russians at War" is a manipulation of public perceptions of the war made by professional propagandists.

This is done to perpetuate Russian violence and aggression towards Ukraine.

-According to people that have seen the film, there is:

No discussion on how the war started, or who started it.

Denial of documented war crimes committed in Bucha

Russian soldiers express they are tired of the war, but no discussion of Russia starting it or how to end it.

No sympathy for Ukrainians that a Russian soldier attacked and whose land he invaded.

A Russian soldier promoted narratives about a coup and armed rebellion in Kyiv being carried out by the US in 2014.

The narrative that Russians never want war, they never attack, and they only end wars.

Ukrainians are called fascists and nazis, which is a core justification for Russia starting the war.

The Russian military makes a statement, "Holiday is victory." This goes unchallenged and with no commentary. This of course means for Ukrainians a Russian victory is subjugation and annihilation.

A dead civilian is shown in occupied Donetsk but without context. The Russians use Donetsk's residential areas as a shield to shell the Ukrainian army and they hide behind locals. Thus, locals get killed from the return fire, which fuels more propaganda of "Ukrainians killing their own people."

A Russian occupier says this land is historically Russian.

Obviously, there's more. A great breakdown video about the film is here. It's 27 minutes long, but hits everything about the film and Russian propaganda. Much of it is also listed above, but there is plenty I didn't mention in this post.

youtube

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But let's get back to Marsha's article.

The feature film All Quiet on the Western Front, which also humanized the “wrong” side of the First World War with its devastating portrayal of a young German soldier’s experiences, won four Academy Awards last year, including best international feature film. Russians at War, which dispels the myth that there is any glory involved in war whatsoever, deserves similar recognition. It certainly deserves a chance to be seen.

Is Marsha seriously comparing "All Quiet on the Western Front" to "Russians at War"? These films and situations are not similar at all.

I won't speak for the rest of the world, but on "my side of the pond", we are so far removed from World War I, the only time we think about it is in a history lesson, a textbook, or a movie. We can look back on it with hindsight and safely explore different aspects of the war without sparking outrage and traumatizing anyone. Most if not all of the discontent I saw that came from "All Quiet on the Western Front" was due to historical inaccuracy, how the weapons were portrayed to be used in certain situations, and how scenes with the trenches and barbed wire were set up. There is emotional distance.

Let's not forget, the original book is a piece of fiction based on the collective experiences of WWI soldiers and the author. The characters are fiction.

This is reality with real people suffering from Russia's aggression. it is absolutely ludicrous to compare "All Quiet on the Western Front" to "Russians at War". Ordinary Russians are committing horrendous, inhumane, and evil crimes, so much so that it is hard for the human mind to comprehend the scale, quality, and magnitude of it all.

I don't need Russian soldiers to be humanized, because we have already seen what humans can do both in history and the here and now. There is a great capacity to do immense good and to do incredible harm. Instead of protesting the war and the government, Russians have chosen to support the war. Ordinary Russians have joined the war for money or to have their prison sentences cleared. Ordinary Russians have willingly posted their crimes on Telegram with pride. Ordinary Russians have tortured and killed Ukrainians, subjugated them in occupying lands, kidnapped and trafficked Ukrainian children, and so many other atrocities. It is a choice they made, and they should not be absolved of it.

Of course, Russians is much more sensitive. It is a documentary to begin with, but also because this catastrophe is happening right now. It is bringing agony to Ukrainians at this very moment. Nobody should have to experience what Ukrainians are suffering through at the hands of Russia.

You ignorant little shit, you literally wrote "the anger around this film is unjustified" in the beginning. You dismissed the anger people feel about this film and you have the audacity to only now knowledge the pain Ukrainians feel? Your words. "Propaganda? Please." Fuck off.

Russian fighters – some drafted, some indoctrinated, some there to keep their families fed back home or a friend company at the front, some there because they don’t know why – are also victims of this war. As one notes in the film, they are at war with themselves. “Slavs against Slavs.”

Oh, look, Marsha! Another piece of Russian propaganda that you have confirmed is in the film! Now, it can be explained for those that don't know (which includes you apparently! :D).

Russia has co-opted the term "Slav" to mean Russian and only Russian. They do this to deny the existence of other Slavic ethnicities, such as Ukrainians, and subjugate them. This further fuels the narrative that Ukraine cannot exist without Russia, that Ukraine is inseparable from Russian history and culture, that Ukrainians and Russians are one and the same and that Ukrainians don't exist. Hope that helps. :)

And a talented filmmaker, without an official posting or even a press pass, followed them almost all the way to the front so that we could know about it. And be outraged. Not at the film; at the war. Censoring art is never a good idea. But keeping this film under wraps is denying the public of more than the experience of seeing an excellent movie. It is restricting access to a vital message: an unforgiving indictment of war. Peace.

The Russian army has restricted soldiers from being able to use phones. There is no way in hell the director could waltz in with sophisticated camera equipment, sit with a bunch of Russian soldiers for MONTHS, and film whatever she wanted without the FSB and GRU knowing. Canadian organizations that funded this fell for the lies. TIFF fell for the lies. And you, Marsha, fell for the lies.

So, you want to be outraged at war? Fine. Of course, war is horrific. But make sure you damn well know who the aggressor is in this war. It is Russia and Russia only. There is no both sides-ing this.

It takes millions of people to support a genocide and millions more to commit it. It is not Putin's war but Russia's war.

No matter what, this propaganda film is a win-win for the Kremlin. It's a win if it is shown, using the West's cultural centers, festivals, and institutions to spread its narrative, and a win if it is not shown to further fuel its propaganda.

But I think Kate Tsurkan from the Kyiv Independent said it best.

"It is our responsibility to categorically reject any attempts to excuse or rehabilitate the Russian war crimes being committed in Ukraine, and to ensure that the suffering of Russia’s victims is neither forgotten nor minimized — it’s the very least we can do for the tens of thousands of Ukrainians whose lives they stole and destroyed."

This isn't the first time Russia has pushed its propaganda pieces through cultural festivals, nor will it be the last.

Know who the enemy is.

Remember who they are.

#Ukraine #russia is a terrorist state #russian propaganda #Canada #Toronto #TIFF #russians at war #article in link #toronto film festival #toronto international film festival #video #long post #this turned out to be longer than I expected #but there was so much bullshit packed into a tiny article #I listened to Ukrainians. It aint hard #Youtube #screen reader friendly

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puckpocketed · 6 months ago

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29/06/2023 - the Montreal Canadiens select Jacob Fowler 69th overall | y // 1/09/2023 - Inside the Canadiens Draft Meetings, 2023

Jacob Fowler — an introduction, a collection of media

I’ll give you three shooters, and you can tell me if they’re righty, lefty, passer, or shooter. Perfect. Okay. Harvey, Chicago? He’s a passer. He’s a lefty. Lefty. (pause) Perron? Perron’s a shooter and he’s a righty. He’s got a really good shot. Fine? Fine’s a righty. Didn’t see too much of him this year. I’d say he’s a — he’s probably more of a passer, yeah. So you know your stuff. I do. You could probably go up and down the whole USHL and I could name… righty, lefty… Okay, now, how did you… When did you start studying it like that? I don’t think it was ever a ‘study’ as much as just — not even a photo memory — just; you play against those guys and if you want to stop those guys, you’re going to figure out real quick if he’s a righty or a lefty if you want to stop the puck. I mean you can’t… You can’t play your short side wrong if it’s a righty on his one side or a lefty on the other side, so… I think if you don’t know what hands they are, or if they’re a shooter or a passer, you’re not going to be very successful.

[Fowler at the scouting combine, speaking to a Canadiens psychologist] But I’m more interested in the guy who’s really inside, right? Yeah. Tell me about him. Tell me what makes him friggin’ tick. I’ve been, y’know, doubted and… Yeah! Here we go! I’ve had to prove people wrong my entire career. Of course you have, yeah! I sat in my living room in a shirt and tie with my whole family and watched, y’know, five or six hours of the entire OHL [Ontario Hockey League] Draft, the entire USHL [United States Hockey League] Draft and — to never see your name pop up on that screen is… It’s a pretty crappy feeling. To know that you played in the National Championship, you played in the national tournament twice; you’ve won just about every youth championship you could win in North America… To never be talked to, or to never see your name pop up is — it’s terrible. I don’t read too much into the different awards, but… To win the award of Goalie of the Year in this league that I was undrafted [in] — nobody wanted me. There were 16 teams and not a single one of them wanted me. I had to go out and prove that, every single night, that you messed with the wrong guy and Youngstown was just fortunate enough that I ended up in their corner. That feeling sticks with me every day, and… The last thing I want is any organisation to look back and wish they would’ve taken a chance on me because all I’ve done is prove people wrong.

Where do I even begin with Jacob Fowler? Scouts and pundits and fans have taken note — the Canadiens have had a distinct vision with their past few drafts under the Kent Hughes regime: culture and character. Jacob Fowler is yet another piece. In what I figure is typical Montreal media fashion, he's being hailed as the next goalie-of-the-future, as Carey Price come again. Big hair, big expectations, and a big fucking chip on his shoulder — that's Jacob Fowler. Also Jacob Fowler: a goalie who has always performed, always been at the bleeding edge of every leader board, a goalie who makes every net his.

The stats are the least notable thing about Fowler. Plenty of young goalies have put up good stats. It's not about his sv%, for me. It's about all the rest of it. It's the candidness with which he tells his story. It's the intensity of his complexes — borne from years of being overlooked.

Jacob Fowler rattles off skaters and their tendencies and thinks of it as a given that you should know these things by rote if you want to make saves. Jacob Fowler knows how good he is, he remembers every single instance where he'd been ignored when it came time to pick, and he's seemingly simmered this anger for just as long as he's understood it. That's what makes me care.

There's love of the game, and there's this. He's a fascinating case study: undeniably elite, yet somehow passed over again and again; confident and on the verge of cocky; calm, but only in the way the surface of a rip current hides it's pull. He's picking a fight with everyone who doubted him each time he gets in net. He's looking at the yawning chasm of where Carey Price used to be and he's going to jump. Against the searing lights of playing in Montreal? He says, "I don't think I could write the script any better. I want to be a Montreal Canadien, and I want to win a Stanley Cup for them. As a competitor, I don't want it to be easy. I think — I want the bright lights, I want the big stage, and y'know I said earlier pressure is a privilege."

It might all be bluster. It might be a media-trained, canned response. I was convinced.

x | y // x | y

[Exchange between the Canadiens' scouting team] Martin Lapointe: So, Billy, you're saying you would put Fowler ahead of [redacted]? Bobby Ryan: Yes, 100%. Fowler shows up every time and wins. It's, it's like almost — it's crazy. No one's saying Fowler was 'good' growing up. He was the best growing up. He's (redacted goalie) not better than Fowler. Like if we're playing a game right now and I said, "Alright, I'm gonna — you pick your team, we all got..." Vincent Riendeau: We're talking about the NHL today? They're not facing the NHL today. These guys will face them at 24, 25. BR: I know, but what I'm saying... He's ready — he already mastered... He's mastered his position. The other guys haven't. They have the tools. They haven't figured out in their head how to fuckin' win games. This kid does it. He's been doing it since he was like 10 years old. And he wants to do it. [...] We're all working towards the same goal. We're trying to win a Stanley Cup and... I'd want the kid who wins the most. Never been not the top goalie, ever. Ever. Look at the numbers. He's never not been the top goalie in the entire league. Not like — not the starter. He's never not been the highest save percentage in every league he's ever been in. VR: I can't deny it... I can't — but... BR: I just think we're going to regret not taking this kid.

I'm cheering for Jacob Fowler not because I think it's a sure-fire bet — he might never make it, and more promising prospects have fizzled out before — I'm cheering for him because I'm unbelievably excited to see him try.

#JACOB FOWLER BE UPON YE!!!#alternate title while i was working on this: fowler propaganda post #there's like.... 4-5 more posts left in me probably. a web weave about it at some point when i figure out how i want to approach it #transcripts are mine and ough i did in fact get goosebumps watching fowler's section of the video <3 #jacob fowler #montreal canadiens #habs lb #puck!gif #puck!script #p!gif:habs #primers #my writing #nhl gifs #nhledit #hockeyedit

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