MALAKO ESTI? - the short film

Aim

By this fundraiser I wish to tell a story inspired by real WW2 characters and the war in Ukraine today.

We now live historic times and history repeats itself. But humanity prevails... 

The story in the film 'Malako esti?' (Russian for 'Is there milk?') touches on a side of the war that is less known. War crimes took place even in the most unexpected circumstances. A Romanian soldier seeks refuge in the house of a young Ukrainian civilian woman on the Eastern Front in 1942. When two Russian deserters show up at the woman's house with the intent of harming her, the Romanian soldier risks his life trying to protect the woman.  Even though the characters in Malako esti? belong to enemy sides, they manage to see beyond that and come together in time of need. 

From the perspective of the times we live today, the film can be regarded as an incursion in the past, a remembrance, consolidating the idea that the Good and humanity always prevail. 

Lost from his company after an attack, a Romanian soldier comes upon a solitary house in the wilderness of Donets. The soldier is intrusive, mysterious but respectful. Living in the house he discovers a young woman who is intelligent and brave. 

Their communication will be non-verbal and difficult because he knows a few words in Russian but she knows none in Romanian. The film presents a forced cohabitation, a very often met phenomenon in times of war.  

The woman starts to see her companion for what he truly is on the inside. She understands that he is new on the front, without experience, without ill-intentions, he has not committed any crimes but trauma has made its way into his heart, he was very well brought up and has great skills for doing chores around the household. 

Possessing a nurturing instinct, the woman accepts him in her house: she cooks for him, she offers clean clothes, she washes his uniform, she gives him a haircut and teaches him Russian words so that he can communicate with other civilians that he so often identifies with.  

The conflict of the story is reached when two Russian deserters make their presence known from afar. The two protagonists decide that the Romanian soldier should go into hiding for the time being. 

Previous encounters with soldiers from other nations involved in the war has helped the woman to immediately identify the ill intentions of these two deserters.

 A fight breaks out between the woman and one of the men and the soldier, filled with guilt, decides to step in and try to save the woman. It is at this moment that the Romanian soldier steps out of the innocence of young age and becomes a man forever scarred by the horrors of war. The two deserters will meet their end in circumstances that will absolve the Romanian soldier of murder and wrong doing...

Overwhelmed by guilt, the soldier needs to move on and follow his path. The two protagonists will accept the fact that they cannot fulfil the sentiment of love between them and both will face the war on separate paths.  

THE FILM sets out to educate the young generation of the hard lives our family members had to go through and the lives lost in the war and for the older generation this film will serve as remembrance. Malako esti? addresses the human nature which is atemporal and so is war and both follow a universal language and patern. 

The story in the film can metamorphose and be interpreted as a metaphor of the war in Ukraine today. The young woman can represent the the invaded Ukraine while the Romanians, in the shape of the Romanian soldier, come to her aid against the invaders represented by the Russian deserters.  

I met Zdrendea Flore (Pușulicu) in 2013 and his memories from the Eastern Front have marked me for life. Ever since then I feel the moral duty of taking onward his story for both our young generation and for the people who never came back from the war.

My uncle inspired the character of the Romanian soldier because he met the qualities of a good man who helps those in need, a man with a pure heart and fear of God, a man with the spirit of sacrifice, well brought up, respectful and intelligent. I believe these were the qualities of so many soldiers out there and I wish the story of this film to represent them and bring homage to their bravery and spirit of sacrifice.  

This project closed unsuccessfully on 20th April 2023