Bad Roads

2020 [UK]

Action / Drama

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 90% · 10 reviews
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 929 929

donbass war russian invasion of ukraine russian invasion of ukraine (2022) ukraine

Plot summary

Four short stories are set along the roads of Donbass during the war. There are no safe spaces and no one can make sense of just what is going on. Even as they are trapped in the chaos, some manage to wield authority over others. But in this world, where tomorrow may never come, not everyone is defenseless and miserable. Even the most innocent victims may have their turn at taking charge.

Director

Natalya Vorozhbit Photo
Natalya Vorozhbit

Top cast

Yuliya Matrosova Photo
Yuliya Matrosova as The Grandmother
Maryna Klimova Photo
Maryna Klimova as Yuliya
Zoya Baranovska Photo
Zoya Baranovska as The Woman Driver
Anastasia Parshina Photo
Anastasia Parshina as Young girl's friend #2
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
930.01 MB
1280*536
Uk 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   et   lt   lv  
25 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds ...
1.68 GB
1920*804
Uk 2.0
NR
Subtitles us   et   lt   lv  
25 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by cherry_town 9 / 10

Gripping crescendo

The writer and a director is a household name in Ukraine after she has catapulted herself into fame with the meritorious TV series To Catch the Kaidash.For the latter, Natalya Vorozhbit has served as the writer and a showrunner. She has transplanted the 19th century classic Ukrainian novel into nowadays reality where all Ukrainians recognized themselves and their troubles and guilty pleasures. The whole country has been swept away with the master craft.Now Mrs. Vorozhbit has made her way into the big screen, and the start is vertiginous. 100 minutes of the grilling movie is painful experience to stomach and to delve into. As Ukraine goes through the catharsis of the war in the East, one might expect that the movie, especially propped up with a dole of public funds, would transgress into a piece claining, albeit subtly, the righteousness of our case.Far from it. The war is cruel and demanding for both sides, and especially for those caught in between as the DUI-ed headmaster of Popasna School N3 who launches a string of interconnected novellas.After the third episode when the gates of the hell seem to have widely open, you are plunged into the seemingly innocent mild road incident when a strayed hen is killed. Would you expect what you see from a pair of peasants whose rusted shaving razors are piled in a filth sink?It is still evident that the dramaturgic power of Vorozhbit, given her experience, still dominates over her cinematography. Details are gripping as the aftertaste and anticipation of more to come from this ascented star of Ukraine's cinema and theater.
Reviewed by brentsbulletinboard 3 / 10

Not Sure What the Director Was Going For Here

The indignities of war can be horrendous, if not downright repulsive. And, while it's important that these atrocities are not overlooked, the way in which their stories are told matters greatly. That's where writer-director Natalya Vorozhbyt's debut feature regrettably drops the ball. This collection of loosely linked vignettes set during the civil war in the Donbas region of Ukraine shortly after the Maidan Uprising presents a series of stories depicting the physical, psychological and social impact of the conflict on the area's citizens, much of it in restrained but unflinching detail. The problem, however, rests with the specific material chosen for these vignettes. Of the four narrative threads, the first is the most compelling, credible and engaging, even if it drags somewhat in spots. The remaining three, however, suffer from a variety of issues: the second one is dull and largely pointless, and the fourth is bizarre and at times laughably silly. But the most troubling is the third, which is positively sick, twisted and perverted, even if it manages to keep from becoming overly gratuitous in telling a story that seems to have little to do with the conflict itself and which merely provides the stage for an episode of manipulation porn. What's more, the film overall does little to shed much light on the war itself, choosing instead to focus on the individual tales for which the conflict serves as little more than a backdrop. Given that this offering was primarily made for a Ukrainian audience, perhaps the filmmaker decided that locals were already familiar enough with the kinds of issues covered here and felt that they didn't need to be belabored in the movie's narrative. But, for those on the outside looking in, it feels like there's a lot of back story missing that doesn't enhance the individual tales told in the picture's overarching content. And, as for what's being shown here, it's not patently obvious that we really need to see it, no matter how realistic it might be in capturing stories typical of the subject matter upon which they're based. In these days of the current Ukrainian conflict, it's natural to want to be supportive of the nation's people, culture and society in the face of the oppressive circumstances currently prevailing there, but that doesn't mean everything that comes out of that region should automatically be given a pass because of its source of origin, and that's certainly the case where this film is concerned.
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