Militantropos (2025) Movie Drinking Game
Take a Drink: for the presence of cameras or press
Take a Drink: whenever images of war intermix with images of domesticity
Take a Drink: kitty!
Take a Drink: whenever the title reappears in the form of a new definition
Do a Shot: for Patriotism
By: Henry J. Fromage (Two Beers) –
This documentary selected for Cannes’ Directors Fortnight lays out its thesis right up front by defining the word that constitutes its title: Militantropos is “a persona adopted by humans when entering a state of war. The chaos of war not only tears apart the physical world but also fractures the Militantropos’ sense of self.”
Militantropos seeks to show us just how the seemingly never-ending Russian war of conquest has wreaked this terrible human damage on the survivors that it is being waged upon.
A Toast
This is the kind of documentary where mood is more important than incident. The story arises from observation, when a narrative arises at all- more often you are simply immersed in different aspects of a world in conflict. Regular life persists, in many ways as it always has, but the film also depicts the silences and longueurs of the battlefield, not shying away from its ugly effects, either.
The three credited directors here combine to have a cinematographer’s eye for color and detail amidst the desolation, capturing uncanny, at times otherworldly imagery throughout. Realism is the goal here, but nobody said reality need be drab or boring (it never is, if you simply look).
Beer Two
The team here must have had so much footage, so it’s difficult to fault them for wanting to use as much as possible. However, with this approach, they could have crafted something a bit shorter, more precise and targeted. Perhaps that’s just a quibble from someone used to seeing narratives on screen (even documentaries usually have Written By credits, after all).
Verdict
Militantropos is an uncommon type of war documentary, seeking to immerse you in the surreal nature of living during wartime.
