‘Real’ Review: Oleh Sentsov’s Ukrainian War Documentary Is Unplanned but Utterly Immersive

A lot of great cinema is made by happy accidents: certain intangible chemistries and tricks of timing that can’t be calculated even by the most exacting auteur. In the considerably rarer case of “Real,” the whole film is an accident, and one more vital than happy. Shot inadvertently while director Oleh Sentsov — not working as a filmmaker, but as a lieutenant in the Ukrainian Defense Forces — was holed up with his unit during a perilous battle in the early days of the war against Russia, the film captures the horror and claustrophobia of trench warfare with an immediacy that no big-budget fictional combat movie could hope to

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