The film, directed by Oleksii Shapariev, has an overall budget of 52 million hryvnias, a half of which is financial support from the state. A love triangle against the backdrop of 1918 historical events, the formation of the first student hundred, and the tragic battle near Kruty is a plot for a true action film. The film makers emphasize that they were shooting a quality feature movie intended for the masses: accordingly, in addition to real historical characters, such as Symon Petliura (Dmytro Stupka), Mykhailo Hrushevsky (Serhii Dzialyk), and Averkii Honcharenko (Oleksii Trytenko), we will also see such generalized characters as, for example, the protagonist, student fighter Andrii Savytsky (Yevhen Lamakh). The main female role, Sophia (Nadia Koverska), is also a generalized personification of committed and socially active women of that time.
According to scriptwriter Kostiantyn Konovalov, the idea of a feature film on the tragic events of January 1918 emerged about 10 years ago and was under constant development, as documents were searched for and historical facts were studied and compared. “The full script was ready in 2014, and, as the war in the east began, I was surprised that history was repeating itself,” the author says. Although Kruty 1918 is not a documentary film, it would have been impossible to create the necessary atmosphere unless that-period authentic weapons were used and original combat scenes were reenacted. To serve this purpose, about 150 National Guard soldiers took part in the shooting.
The film was shot in Kyiv, Mezhyhiria (French locations), and in the village of Syhnaivka, Cherkasy oblast, where the station of Kruty was reconstructed. The film’s soundtrack consists of Khrystyna Solovii’s songs and her arrangement of a well-known Ukrainian song.
The film Kruty 1918 will be showing in theaters from December 6.
