Sensational success: The Ukrainian film "We were recruits" conquers Netflix

Ukrainian cinema continues to surprise the world. We Were Recruits, a new road movie documentary, recently debuted on the Netflix streaming platform and has already caught the attention of many viewers.

Triumph at the national level

The premiere of the film "We Were Recruits" took place on May 2, 2024. After six weeks of national distribution, the tape collected more than UAH 5.2 million, becoming the second largest box office among Ukrainian documentaries.

The hard way to Netflix

The director of the film, Lubomyr Levytskyi, talked about the difficult negotiations with Netflix. Considering the cautious attitude of the platform towards military content, the film team was worried about the result. However, high box office figures and quality of the tape became key arguments in favor of a positive decision.

"I believed that a quality product, cool characters and story, as well as box office collections would somehow influence the decision, " Lyubomyr Levytskyi shared.

Impressive characters and plot

In the center of the film's plot is the story of 19-year-old recruit Borys "Journalist" Savenka. The film shows the path of a young fighter of the 3rd separate assault brigade from initial training to combat operations on the front line. The tape was shot in the style of a mockumentary, which gives it a special realism.

International release on the horizon

The film is currently available for viewing on Netflix only for users from Ukraine. However, the team plans to expand to other online platforms, such as Sweet.TV and possibly Megogo. After the end of the film distribution abroad, the film will be available for paid viewing in different countries of the world.

"I think that soon there will be other platforms that will open a limited release abroad. That is, you can watch the film for a fee, " Lyubomyr Levytskyi added.

The value of the film for the audience

The film "We Were Recruits" is not only an exciting story, but also an important tool for understanding who protects Ukraine and why help from different countries is so important.

"Ukrainians need to understand who is defending the country today, and foreigners need to understand where the money goes, which governments send from their taxes to help Ukraine, " the director concluded.

Editor: Emiliia Morozova