This is a rare documentary, a valuable testimony to the state of Russian troops: in "The Returnees," two journalists from the independent media outlet "Novaya Gazeta" give a voice to 18 soldiers who have returned from Ukraine. Their account, far removed from the polished and heroic image portrayed in reports produced by Russian television, offers a more nuanced view of the state of the Russian troops. Its creators, journalists Anna Artemeva and Ivan Zhiline, hope it will encourage their compatriots to reflect on the question of collective responsibility. “This film attempts to understand what the survivors feel upon their return, how they assess what happened and what has become of them. Where does our responsibility lie, and what does it consist of? And how can we all continue to live together?” they state in the opening minutes. The monologues of these men, filmed by candlelight, are interspersed with shots of nighttime cityscapes under snow and posters calling on Russians to enlist in the army. Several of these soldiers, whether enlisted or members of the Wagner paramilitary group, were seriously wounded: one is blind, another lost a leg, and a third is disfigured. They all speak at length about their daily lives at the front, this "horror film," this "meat grinder" with its "trenches filled with corpses," where death and its unbearable stench are everywhere. "Some guys slept on corpses because there was nowhere else. You survive however you can," one of these men recounts.
