Elijah Taylor’s Story telling Homework
JRN 4500
Prof. Emily H. Johnson
2/25/24
While watching this documentary I noticed the excellent pacing and story structure that kept the entire movie engaging from beginning to end. And in the documentary there were two storytelling elements we discussed in class that remained consistent. Those two storytelling elements were the theme and the dramatic arc. The theme in this documentary was centered on the devastating war between Russia and Ukraine as it was happening. More specifically how the city Mariupol in Ukraine went from a peaceful city to a dangerous warzone. The second element was the dramatic arc being the perspective of the civilians of Ukraine as the war was happening. We see people losing their lives in the hospitals, people losing family members, people losing their house and sharing multiple emotions as the war was happening.
I personally felt that the dramatic arc storytelling element was more apparent than the theme in this film. Yes, the theme was present throughout the documentary being centered on war. But it felt more focused on showing (dramatic arc is defined as literary term for the path a story follows)the path of civilians and their reaction to the war. In this documentary it never really showed any Russian soldiers or much combat. The most it showed was a tank and explosions happening close by the cameraman location.
My main takeaway from the film is how everyone had different reactions to the war. For most people they felt devastated by the war after they lost their house, their livelihood and even family members. But you had teenagers using the war as an opportunity to steal electronics. Seeing the different perspectives really lets you know it’s real regular people going through a traumatic experience.