Trenches (Tranchées)

In February 2014, in Maidan Square,

the Ukrainian people rose up against government corruption.

Pretexting a coup,

Russia secretly sent soldiers to the Donbas region

to support Ukrainian separatists.

The Ukrainian army intervened.

After months of combat and thousands of casualties,

a ceasefire was signed.

But this did not put an end to the war.

SVITLODARSK, Ukrainian army positions

TRENCHES

More towards me.

How are our ''friends'' doing?

It's quiet.

Our ''dear friends'' are there.

The newcomers are fairly calm.

They rarely fire.

The last guys were more aggressive.

Real brutes.

Can you see, opposite us, one, two, three, four, five, six...

Six stump-looking things, like tree stumps.

Those are their outposts.

They like roaming around in the bushes over there.

But we see them.

We've just been hit with a grenade.

And another one.

They're bombarding around the bunker.

We have to retaliate.

Madrid, this is Andy.

They're still bombarding us from the left of the pine trees.

I've decided to respond with the DShK.

More! Copy that.

Fire!

Take that, big boy!

Reload!

- I'm running for cover! - Ok, we leaving?

Bring another!

Kolya, let's go. We'll come back.

This place is nerve-racking.

We built a sort of covering.

But if anything high-caliber reaches us,

I don't think it'll be much use.

Either everything will disintegrate...

or maybe a miracle...

There's some sense of safety, but not much.

In my opinion,

this is the most dangerous and nerve-racking position.

In those moments, do you think of your loved-ones?

Do you have a girlfriend?

I did.

When you're in the army, it's the kind of relationship

that's really complicated.

During the night, she'd say...

she'd wait for me.

But in the end, it didn't work out.

In two years,

she's the second girl to say she'd wait for me.

But in the end, nothing.

The first one admitted

she wouldn't be able to wait two years.

The second one just bailed out.

That's it.

Back to work.

This spot's a tough one!

I'm taking a break.

Get over here, man!

Shit, they're firing.

You guys should've worn something else.

We're outta here!

God is with us.

I think he exists, but he's hiding.

- You all safe and sound? - We're ok.

Damn, why aren't our guys retaliating?

They're waiting for the other side to run out of ammo.

Talk about anticipation.

They knew we'd come here and that there'd be action.

They could at least retaliate with heavy artillery.

We're gonna have to rebuild everything.

I guess they're done bombarding.

Guess that's the end of it.

Tychy, nothing to report.

This is Madrid. You can come out one by one.

What's wrong?

The roof caved in over there.

What's up?

What the fuck's going on? Are you kidding me?

- Dammit! - Where were you?

In a hole with a log roof.

I was sitting on the ground shaking.

I smoked a cig for 5 minutes under the hissing and the ''booms.''

What a fricking mess.

- Where are they falling? - I dunno.

I fell into the trench

and lay there thinking, ''One's gonna land here.''

I ran to the protected hole...

and one fell right next to it.

- You must've thought you were done for. - Fuck, man!

I looked around thinking, ''End of the road.''

I don't know how we can stand it.

The arbor's gone.

It was destroyed by the blast.

Blown to bits, I swear.

Where?

Where?

The arbor. The summer dining room.

Shit, right next door! I left my food there!

Sorry, buddy, but you won't be finding it.

We need dozens of those protected holes,

every 3 feet.

I'm sick of this.

- And where's Sergei? - I dunno.

We scattered like mice.

The fuckers.

It scared the dog.

Sons of bitches.

What's with you?

It's a miracle no one got killed this morning.

The day is only starting.

All I can think of is foul language

to express how I feel.

Artillery reacted like real pros.

They hit their target on the third shot.

They used the fork tactic to reach the third target.

Real pros who made good use of two pieces of artillery.

You see the result.

Your average soldier can't do that.

He's not trained for it.

Where will you live, if everything is destroyed?

We'll build something else.

A shelter out of the way.

We're waiting for a delivery to start.

Since the beginning of the day,

Ukrainian positions

have been fired at 18 times by separatists

using high caliber weapons.

Ukrainian soldiers have respected the ceasefire

and have not responded to these provocations...

Our commander already has the same software.

Watch. For example,

you can get rid of this thing here or something else.

Shall we warm up with an easy Mortal Kombat Ultimate?

- No, a harder one. - Ok, let's start hard.

Are you installing a game?

Yes.

People think we're fighting, and they're just...

- We're gonna pop Russians. - Exactly!

What else could we do?

I remember playing on the console.

Which one?

Man, the console, I mean...

Sony, PlayStation, Nintendo...

- A tank driver was playing. - The Nintendo was awesome.

It was an awesome game!

Back home, in Novohrad, finding work isn't easy.

Especially for a woman.

Even at the Cersanit plant?

I don't think you realize, commander.

At Cersanit you breathe in so much dust that you ruin your...

Might as well chill here and do your nails.

Do I have a manicure?

- 'Course you do! - Like all women.

I don't do manicures.

Like I do?

What do they make at Cersanit? Toilet bowls?

Yeah.

You could be ''the queen of johns.''

Enough with the nicknames. Our commander already gave me one.

- One nobody can pronounce. - What is it?

Persephone.

Why?

We looked it up and...

we found ''queen of the underworld.''

The underworld's out there.

Wonderful! The company commander called me that last year.

I'd complained everyone else had a nickname.

Mine was just my surname: Anatolievna.

She's Anatolievna, our little Anatolievna...

Pacha, be quiet!

- Baron, you want French toast? - Yes. With eggs?

Where are you aiming? You could kill someone.

Shit! I cut my tattoo!

You shouldn't have wet it.

Go on, pour.

Dang! Your fingers are messed up!

Gricha!

That's brutal. He cut three of his fingers!

I'm shocked!

What a moron.

A total moron.

Grab a flask, I'll give some blood.

This promises to be fun.

We're blowing up the shelter.

It'll be cool!

The Wheel, this is Semione, over.

Copy. Over.

We're blowing a new trench in a minute.

Copy that.

Balkans and Chpak, do you copy?

Copy.

Loud and clear.