Hatred - Murder of the Innocent [DVD]

‘Wolyn’ (Volhynia) aka ‘Hatred’ covers the period 1938-42 in the disputed rural southern Polish/western Ukrainian provinces as they descended into an abyss of vicious, genocidal, inter-communal violence as ethnic Ukrainians and Poles vied for supremacy under both Soviet and Nazi occupation, as seen through the eyes of a young polish woman. It depicts the nexus of racial, ideological, religious, linguistic, class and ethnic hatreds unleashed by the invading totalitarian powers leading to the most disgusting and barbaric mutual slaughter of civilians by other civilians and armed militias and it does so in an unflinching, unbiased and historically accurate way (as far as I know and understand the history), though other commenters here would doubtless disagree- those who literally still have a particular ethno-political ‘axe to grind’. That in itself tells us something of the enduring animosity that still exists as a result of the Second World War in Eastern Europe mostly triggered under the jaundiced and manipulative eye of the Nazi occupiers who were themselves busy mass-murdering Jews at the same time (as depicted).The beautifully bucolic opening sequence sets the scene for the later descent into madness and savagery, where no one, neither Poles nor Ukrainians, emerges as entirely free of guilt or degradation as the violence spirals into a depraved and vicious cycle- the atrocities depicted in this film are not shown as explicit, as gratuitous or as (porno)graphically as they could have been, which was a wise directorial decision, but they are nonetheless, unspeakably horrible.‘Wolyn’ poses the question as to how it is possible that nationalism or religion can be both the cause and the cure of such extreme tribalism, when people’s identities come to be solely defined by simply not being the ‘other’ and, through the agency of violence, destroy anything inherently honourable, decent or good in themselves as they wade through the blood and viscera of their enemies, yet still see themselves as ‘noble’ or ‘just’. The only real innocents to emerge from the bloodbath were the children and those who maintained their humanity against a tidal wave of lethal brutality, often at the cost of their own lives.As for the rest, suffice to say- ‘Man is a mad animal’.

In giving this review 4 stars, I was being generous as there is no 3.5 stars rating. The movie is disjointed. Many of the scenes are much too dark. Not being familiar with local culture it was difficult to understand most of the time who were the Ukrainians, the Poles and the Jews and who were fighting who.

Ukrainian version of genocide on their neighbours, 'friends' and even mixed marriages, children, babies and even livestock which belonged to the hated Polish people who had lived in peace for decades along with the Ukrainians. They wanted to wipe out every last drop of Polish blood and existence with unimaginable brutality and cruelty. Their savagery and barbarity, ferocity as they slaughtered the Polish population of which the vast majority were women and children, (men were away fighting the Germans) with any implement to hand was inhuman in its viciousness.It is a great pity that this 'event' of genocide in Poland's history is not widely known!!But the Polish people remember .

Did not understand what it was all about as it just dragged on about very little. Had no idea if this was about ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the Nazis or by other ethnic minorities.

I am sure most British people have not heard of the Province of Volhynia which overlaps traditional Polish and Ukrainian territory. In 1943 Ukrainians, who had been dominated up to then by a Polish ruling class, rose to drive the Poles out. The film shows some beautiful marriage customs which gives it great charm at the beginning but by the end community tension has descended into burnings, decapitations and attacks on houses. It is graphic and deeply disturbing. This film is for those who want some explicit history.

The multi award winning (in Poland) “Hatred: Murder of the Innocent” (Wolyn - original title) highlights events that took place before and during the Second World War. I think that this is an excellent film, it is said to be historically accurate, but this film is not an easy watch, it is at times unrelenting in its portrayal of these particular events.Big budget and brilliantly acted by everyone in the cast - and Michalina Labacz as the leading actress is incredible, and photographed and brilliant in most if not all ways that can be attributed to a film, I think that this film is an amazing piece of cinema.The title of the film could perhaps been seen as a “spoiler”, but it is the detail that perhaps will not be known? At times knowing who was doing what to who and why they were doing it was a bit confusing but a couple of hours of film will never be enough to explain fully what was the cause of the events as portrayed in the film. Statistics (with small writing) are given at the end of the film about the murders.On the DVD (ASIN: B079PDLD8C) you get:“Hatred: Murder of the Innocent” (2 hours 5 minutes)There doesn’t seem to be any options for any extras or for set-up etc, and English Subtitles seem to be embedded and are not optional.

So so

After watching this I was literally speechless for five minutes, such was the impact it had on me. The closest film to this is 'Come and See', at least in style, but the sheer brutality takes it to another level. However, it is not a non-stop gore fest, as it explores the complicated ethnic hatreds between Poles and Ukrainians both before and during WW2. The main female lead is simply superb in this film, and one can only marvel at how her character dredges up the courage to continue, as chaos and death are all around her. For me, it had very strong echoes of the ethnic genocide in Rwanda, as neighbour slaughtered neighbour. In short, I definitely recommend this film, but it is truly shocking to view.