Paleontology Lesson

Bluesky

This 12-minute short film from Sergei Loznitsa feels like a bite-sized companion piece to his Cannes-screened The Invasion, which immersed us in many of life’s rituals in Ukraine – notably births, marriages and deaths – under the shadow of Russian aggression.

Death is, in a way, on display, as we spend a few minutes in the company of children and their guide at Kyiv’s Natural History Museum. It begins with talk of bombings from the staff taking shelter after a warning. They know there’s a camera present as the talk drifts and one advises, “Don’t comment.” Once the children arrive they seem oblivious that they’re being watched, so rapt are they with their animated guide.

Talking a mile a minute, he passes around examples, including a spiny puffer fish, as Serhiy Adamenko’s camera studies the youngsters with care. The transportation of children through learning is always enjoyable to watch – and their reaction to a clever trick with club moss is delightful – but for kids under the threat of war the ability to forget about that for a few minutes is even more valuable.

Loznitsa has one eye on the conflict, though, reminding us not just with the chat of bombs from the staff but in an early tableau from the museum, showing animals frozen in the act of the hunt. Later the camera inspects a tale of evolution on a wall, featuring the skulls of various apes and illustrations, including one waving a large stick in the air. It prompts you to consider whether we’ve come so very far at all.

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