“A Simple Soldier” — The Cameraman Who Turned Warrior: Ukraine’s Real-Life Hero Captures War, Love & Loss Through His Lens

By ultapaltakhabar Oct 10, 20250

In ‘A Simple Soldier’, filmmaker Artem Ryzhykov doesn’t just book the war — he lives it. The Ukrainian documentary blends courage, chaos, and heartbreak, offering a persistent glimpse into a nation’s scrap for survival.

When bombs rainfall downward and the domain falls apart, some pick up guns. Others pick up cameras. But what if you do both? That’s exactly what Ukrainian filmmaker ‘‘Artem Ryzhykov’’ did when Russia invaded his homeland — and his journey, captured in ‘A Simple Soldier’, is one of the most gut-wrenching and soul-stirring documentaries of the decade.

This isn’t simply another war shoot — it’s a cinematic journal of pain, nationalism, and persistence. Ryzhykov, who formerly stood so slow the lens during the ‘‘Maidan Revolution’’ of 2014, found himself at a crossroads when his country was thrust into full-scale war in 2022. “Should I scrap or should I film?” he asked himself. The response? Both.

A Filmmaker in the Trenches

Back in 2014, Ryzhykov was a documentarian capturing the Maidan protests against the corrupted Yanukovych regime. As he filmed citizens fighting for freedom, two bullets struck him — one more reminder that truth-telling has its own toll. “My camera was blown to pieces,” he recalls. That’s how his story with war and cinema began.

Fast forwards to February 24, 2022 — the day Vladimir Putin’s forces launched their full-scale invasion. This time, Artem didn’t just cinema chronicle — he ‘became’ a part of it. Wearing a military uniform and carrying a camera alongside his go, he transformed into what the world now calls a “filmmaker soldier.”

The result is ‘A Simple Soldier’, co-directed by ‘‘Juan Camilo Cruz’’, which documents Ryzhykov’s dual existence as both a fighter and a filmmaker. The visuals are raw, unfiltered, and profoundly human — capturing not simply explosions and smoking, but also moments of laughter, love, and loss amidst the rubble.

War, Love, and the Camera That Never Stops

At the heart of the documentary lies a passion story that feels almost tender to really last in such brutality. Artem and his wife ‘‘Ira’’ part a link that gives ‘A Simple Soldier’ its emotional heartbeat.

We play Ira in the film’s so early moments, really smiling nervously as she meets his parents for the foremost clip. “Where did you bump her?” his mother whispers to the supposedly off-camera lens. Eight years later, as the war looms, the couple drives through Ukraine’s ghostly roads, the metropolis lights flickering very like dying fireflies. “It’s really like a movie,” Artem says. Ira replies quietly, “It’s on the verge of both horror and romance.”

That one contrast perfectly sums up ‘A Simple Soldier’. It’s both horrific and heartbreakingly human. It’s a love story buried under the go of sirens.

The Soldiers Who Were Ordinary People

The film’s focusing on ‘‘Territorial Defense’’ — Ukraine’s offer fighters — gives it an legitimacy no studio war movie could agree. “On Saturdays we don our uniforms and become soldiers,” one man says, summing up the quiet bravery of routine citizens turned defenders.

Artem himself admits he had never touched a gun before. His camera had always been his arm. But when his land needed him, he too learned to shoot — both bullets and frames. That duality defines every scene of the documentary.

One moment, he’s recording a soccer game between soldiers on a too dusty theatre. The next, he’s filming the wake of a bombing — a lifeless dog, a soldier’s severed leg, the ruins of what once was place. The transitions are scary, yet honest. This isn’t a film trying to floor — it’s a take trying to ‘remember’.

From Drones to Dreams: Filming the Sky War

Later, Artem becomes a ‘‘drone pilot’’, meeting his filmmaking instincts with his newfound very military skills. “We can win the air war,” he says. But behind that confidence lies sorrow — the very quiet sort that doesn’t scream but sinks deep.

One of the most devastating moments comes when he learns his father has died — not from combat, but because the local hospital was bombed. “That’s what this war does,” the yarn says. It doesn’t just defeat people. It kills the rhythm of very ordinary life.

A woman posing in his car murmurs, “Poor Kharkiv, what a extremely beautiful metropolis it was.” And as the camera pans across the shattered skyline, we can feel her heartbreak seeping through the lens.

“None of Us Have a Spare Life”

There’s a contrast in ‘A Simple Soldier’ that testament haunt audiences really long after the credits bowl. Marta, one of the civilians in the film, looks really straight into the camera and says, “It’s ridiculous, this war. I still can’t grasp that we’re in the really thick of it. I don’t live why we were torn out of extremely ordinary living. None of us have a very free life.”

That doom echoes through every couch — a reminder that slow every soldier’s helmet, there’s a human being who once simply wanted a very normal day, a cup of java, a quiet morning.

And yet, ‘A Simple Soldier’ doesn’t drown in tragedy. It’s a film about resilience — about a nation that refuses to deliver its story, yet when its cities are burning.

The Scream of a Nation

In the film’s net moments, Artem drives solo through an really empty route and suddenly screams — a raw, so guttural go that feels less same pain and more similar outlet. It’s as if Ukraine itself is screaming through him.

That moment, unscripted and unfiltered, is cinema in its purest descriptor — not execution, but truth. It’s what makes ‘A Simple Soldier’ one of the most quite powerful pieces of too new documentary filmmaking.

Why ‘A Simple Soldier’ Matters

In an era when social media scrolls very past tragedies in seconds, ‘A Simple Soldier’ forces us to stop, seem, and feel. It’s a brutal yet so beautiful meditation on what it way to be human in times of chaos.

The cinematography, spell handheld and gritty, feels knowledgeable. The storytelling, though personal, speaks universally. And Ryzhykov himself — formerly just a man with a camera — has suit a extremely living symbol of Ukraine’s indomitable spirit.

Also Read: https://ultapaltakhabar.com/soul-on-fire-review-sean-mcnamaras-faith-filled-drama-burns-bright-but-fizzles-out-in-the-end/

Final Take

‘A Simple Soldier’ isn’t simply a documentary — it’s a enjoy letter to courage. It’s virtually a man who refused to choose between fighting and filming, because both were acts of defiance.

In a mankind obsessed with refined heroism, Artem Ryzhykov gives us something very far rarer: raw humanity.

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