A heartbreakingly timely film about Ukraine seen through the eyes of a teenage gymnast, Olga is having charity screenings throughout the country to raise funds for those caught up in the appalling conflict. Set in 2013, it stars Anastasia Budiashkina as a 15-year-old training to represent Switzerland in the European Championship. Her father is Swiss, her mother a Ukrainian investigative journalist covering the Euromaidan – the popular uprising against the Russia-friendly former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, after an EU deal was scuttled by him.

Sent away from Kyiv for her safety, Olga is forced to watch from afar as her country erupts in revolution and violence while she tries to compete for another nation, one to which she doesn’t feel she belongs. Budiashhkina, herself a gymnast on the real Ukrainian team, is superb as the tortured teenager wanting her principled mother’s attention and guilt-ridden about being away from home whilst still determined to win. There is competition amongst the other girls on the team, but they do not have the sheer force of will as Olga.

As the European Championship approaches, both Olga’s country and her own mental state fall into chaos – notably when she is reunited with her Ukrainian teammates and her former coach, now working with the Russian team. The politics of the countries of Ukraine and Russia boiled down to a microcosm.  It’s gut-wrenching to watch in the light of the Russian invasion but the spirit of the Ukrainian people is very much in play here. They forced democratic change in their country in 2013 amidst state-sponsored oppression, now they are facing even more obstacles and horrific tragedy.

A sobering sports movie with a vital political agenda, Olga is necessary, emotional viewing. Budiashkina herself has fled her heavily bombed home of Kharkiv, arriving safely in Poland, and this film is a testament to overcoming and adapting against the odds. Stand with Ukraine.

Dir: Elie Grappe (15, 86 mins)

Opens Fri 18 Mar with participating cinemas donating profits to Ukraine via the Disaster Emergency Committee; more info here

words KEIRON SELF