Oleksandr Dovzhenko: A Genius of Ukrainian Poetic Cinema

Oleksandr Dovzhenko—a former teacher, artist, and diplomat who worked in Warsaw and Berlin—radically changed his life at the age of 32. Without any formal education in filmmaking, he joined the Odesa Film Studio and taught himself directing through the process of making films. Dovzhenko transformed cinema into visual poetry, giving monumental power to even the simplest scenes.

He was among the first filmmakers in world cinema to express a philosophical relationship with the natural environment, turning nature into a living character. In his films, apples beneath warm rain, drops of water on leaves, and fields of wheat seem to breathe together with the people. Dovzhenko masterfully used associative editing to convey profound metaphors. He rejected artificial, theatrical acting—his characters seemed to emerge from the earth itself.

The Ukrainian director’s innovations captivated the world. Charlie Chaplin spoke of Dovzhenko as a great poet of cinema. His ability to unite human drama with the epic force of nature and monumental imagery became part of the language of world cinema and inspired admiration among outstanding filmmakers of different generations. Dovzhenko’s legacy has also been supported by international initiatives dedicated to preserving and restoring classics of world cinema, including those associated with Martin Scorsese.

The pinnacle of Dovzhenko’s work was Earth (1930), a visual poem about the eternal cycle of life and death. In 1958, at the World Exhibition in Brussels, it was named one of the twelve greatest films in the history of world cinema. Yet upon its release, the film was fiercely attacked by Soviet critics. Dovzhenko was branded a “nationalist,” and the film was soon withdrawn from distribution.

The Soviet system attempted to subjugate the artist. Dovzhenko was forced to live and work in moscow under the regime’s constant supervision. He was required to revise his screenplays and make films according to ideological directives, restricting both his artistic freedom and his Ukrainian voice.

Longing for his homeland, Dovzhenko prolonged his work on his final film, Poem of the Sea, devoted to the construction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the flooding of Ukrainian lands—simply so that he could remain in Ukraine for as long as possible.

Dovzhenko asked for his heart to be buried in his homeland after his death. The Soviet authorities disregarded his request. Denied the opportunity to return to Ukraine, the director died far from home and was buried in moscow. Among the final words written in his diary were: “There is no love. There is no passion.”

Today, the National Film Studio in Kyiv bears the name of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, while Odesa is remembered as the place where his journey in cinema began. On the night of June 15, the Dovzhenko Film Studio was damaged in a Russian attack. A fire destroyed its oldest costume facility, which housed an extensive collection of historical costumes.

Today, russia is waging war against Ukraine and attempting to destroy our culture, just as the Soviet dictatorship once tried to break Dovzhenko himself. Ukrainians, however, continue to defend their freedom—the right to choose their own path, to speak and sing in their native language, to create art, and to protect their land.

The voice of this freedom continues to resonate throughout the world.