In February 2022 in snowy Irpin, close to Kyiv in Ukraine, filmmaker Alina Maksimenko, who has just had surgery on her leg, lies on the floor, with her crutch by her side, doing exercises. With the city under threat of Russian invasion, like so many others she reluctantly loads up her car and heads out of the city – eventually ending up at her parents’ house in a village where no other inhabitants remain, taking on the journey her cat and her camera.
She sets about recording the experience of being caught in this lonely area with just her parents Tolya and Tetiana (and the cat) for company as they eventually decide to stay put, hoping for a lull and relying on the isolation of the place for safety.
In Limbo (W zawieszeniu) is an intimate and insightful look at the war in Ukraine as seen from the viewpoint of a very particular family, and presented in very personal form. Yes, there are aircraft overhead at times and the sound of artillery, but the story here is of how a family does their best to deal with fear, frustration and the imminent threat of invasion. Often shot in close-ups that help enhance the intimacy of their situation, it offers a look at how the first few weeks of the war impacted on an ordinary family away from frontline, but for whom the fight for survival is still an intense and challenging one.
Initially Alina wants to head for the border, but her father says there is no shooting where they are and besides, they don’t have enough petrol for an extended car journey. Alina sets about recording their life there. When Tetiana can get a mobile signal she gives piano lessons over the phone, while Tolya tinkers with things around the house, also heading out into the village to give food to the numerous cats and dogs left behind by residents when they evacuated.
She films their bickering as well as domestic duties (from eating and cleaning through to Tetiana cutting Tolya hair) and at night time films by candle light as their silence is punctuated by the sound of explosions. “We are going to turn into cavepeople soon,” says her mother at one point, as they watch the skies at night. Each attempts to go about their own business, with Tolya happy to help with filming, so much so that he calls the film their “collective project” when he gets annoyed about the way he is being presented.
Tetiana plays the piano on the kitchen table, tapping down on surfaces where keys might be, while Tolya sways and dances to her “music.” But as the explosions seem to get louder they cover the outside of the windows and start to make plans to leave. We will go to Chernivtsi says Alina, but her father says he will stay. ”I’m not leaving him…how could I?” adds her mother.
In Limbo ends with no revelation about what happened to the three of them, which – given that the awful conflict in Ukraine still continues – feels rather appropriate. The family’s blunt and determined sense of home and of survival is gently moving, and Alina Maksimenko gives space for her parents to express stubbornness in the face of possible invasion, often to the extent that she is not seen as much as them. Set against other films from Ukraine which focus on frontline battles, In Limbo is a welcome and moving glimpse into the lives of an ordinary family at the onset of the conflict.
Poland, 2024, 71mins
Dir/scr: Alina Maksimenko
Production: Wajda Studio
Producer: Filip Marczewski
Cinematography: Alina Maksimenko
Editor: Feliks Mirosław Mamczur
Music: Vladimir Tarasov
With: Alina Maksimenko, Tetiana Maksimenko, Anatolii Maksimenko
