Overview
A darkly humorous exploration of propaganda's grip on society during wartime.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Brutal
- angry
- sardonic
- grotesque
- political cinema night
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a brutally powerful, brilliantly filmed, and visceral tragicomic indictment of propaganda and wartime inhumanity.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film presents a sequence of interconnected vignettes depicting different civilians, officials, soldiers, and propagandists in the Donbas conflict.
Blackly comic scenes of propaganda, staged public events, corruption, and mob behavior turn political disinformation into absurdist spectacle.
The film repeatedly places dark humor beside intimidation, violence, humiliation, and the collapse of civic order during war.
Its central premise follows propaganda and manipulation surfacing through everyday social breakdown in a post-truth environment.
Films like Donbass, and why
In the Loop
shared black humor, political absurdism, and episodic social satire amid institutional collapse
The Death of Stalin
shared tragicomic treatment of propaganda, corruption, and the grotesque absurdity of political violence
The Ascent
shared episodic structure, wartime moral disintegration, and bleakly satirical view of collective cruelty
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
shared Eastern European political anguish, documentary-like realism, and institutional absurdism
Movie Details
- Director
- Sergei Loznitsa
- Release Date
- 2018-08-30
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (119)
Cast
- Tamara Yatsenko
- Iryna Zayarmiuk
- Hryhoriy Masliuk
- Olesia Zhurakivska
- Liudmyla Smorodina
- Boris Kamorzin
- Mikhail Voloshin
- Yevhen Chepurniak
- Ihor Kyrylchatenko
- Vladyslav Simanko
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Film Movement Plus, Film Movement Plus Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Donbass about?
- A viciously comic mosaic of propaganda, violence, and civic collapse in wartime eastern Ukraine.
- What is Donbass like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Donbass as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Donbass violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Donbass as brutal.
- What did critics think of Donbass?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a brutally powerful, brilliantly filmed, and visceral tragicomic indictment of propaganda and wartime inhumanity.
- Which films are like Donbass?
- Films with a similar feel include In the Loop, The Death of Stalin, The Ascent, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
- How long is Donbass?
- Donbass runs 122 minutes.
- Where can I watch Donbass?
- In United States, Donbass streams on Film Movement Plus, Film Movement Plus Amazon Channel.
