Arizona audience reacts to "Atentat" screening (03/10/96)

Arizona audience reacts to "Atentat" screening

by Patience T. Huntwork

PHOENIX, Ariz. - It is important for the recently-released Ukrainian film "Atentat" (Assassination) to be shown in Russia, according to an Arizona State University professor who saw the film during a February 18 screening in Tempe.

Rolf Eckmanis, professor of Slavic and Baltic languages, stated that the Russian people should be shown the truth about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the leader of the Ukrainian resistance, Stepan Bandera to counter decades of Russian propaganda portraying them as terrorists and bandits.

Prof. Eckmanis said Oles Film Studio, headed by Ukrainian film director Oles Yanchuk, and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America "are to be commended for making the film," which he praised for revealing "an important episode in the Ukrainian struggle to shake off foreign rule, both German and Soviet."

Prof. Eckmanis said he observed many Ukrainian Americans in the audience who were emotionally affected by the film and understood why. He added that he hopes that the film, currently touring Ukrainian communities in the U.S. and Canada, will "reach a wider audience of Americans."

His was one of numerous responses from non-Ukrainian viewers in Phoenix, many of whom were drawn to the film by a local press account in the Phoenix New Times which heralded "the long-suppressed story of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the revolutionary anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet Ukrainian Insurgent Army who was assassinated in Munich in 1959." Campus kiosks at Arizona State University were blanketed with flyers for the film, proclaiming: "They fought history's two most savage regimes and paid the ultimate price."

Denise Ritchey, a student of Russian and psychology at Arizona State University, described herself after viewing the film as "in awe that something like that (the Ukrainian Insurgent Army) could happen." She expressed amazement at the members of the audience whom she observed exiting the theater speaking Ukrainian. "It's their story," she said. "It's etched on their faces."

Clay Parker, an ASU student of music and Russian, described himself following "Atentat" as "moved by it emotionally." He termed it "a movie I would like to see again." AU math student Patrick Wilson said "Atentat" was the first foreign film he had seen. He expressed amazement that "for 30 to 40 years no one knew" about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The preceeding day, a showing of the film in Tucson thrilled a mostly Ukrainian-speaking audience, many of whom were moved to tears by the film's spare, somber and at times lyrical account of fictional characters' lives intertwined with that of the Ukrainian resistance leader.

Alessandra Nelson, a student at the University of Arizona, when asked to describe her feelings about the film, said, "There is such joy in my heart that I'm Ukrainian." She asked the interviewer to identify her by her mother's Ukrainian surname, Romanenko.

Prof. George Melnykovych of Tucson described the film as "visually moving, really powerful, from an artistic point of view well presented." Olha Halych, outgoing president of the Ukrainian American Society of Tucson, said she loved the film's "gentle, non-violent treatment of a violent subject."

Vitaliy Halych, of Benson, Ariz., praised the film for being "objective and not propagandistic." He predicted it would have more positive impact than a propagandistic treatment of the subject.

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