Sniper: The White Raven

Sniper: The White Raven is a 2022 full-length feature film from UM-Group. Work on the film began in 2019. The war drama won the 11th competition of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, and the film was awarded 23,946,572 UAH (80% of the total cost of the film's production). The film is directed by Maryan Bushan and written by Maryan Bushan and Mykola Voronin.

The film tells the story of a pacifist high school teacher who wanted to live in peace and harmony with nature, but was driven to join the Ukrainian military as a sniper after war comes to the Donbas. The story was inspired by the life and experiences of scriptwriter Mykola Voronin, himself a schoolteacher who later enlisted with the military.

Filming took place in the fall of 2020 at the International Center of NSU in Kyivshchyna (Kyiv Oblast), prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Military personnel and military equipment of the International Center and the Northern Operational Territorial Unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, as well as the Rapid Response Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine took part in the filming. About a hundred guardsmen and about two dozen pieces of equipment took part in the mass scenes.

Synopsis
Mykola Voronenko (Aldoshyn Pavlo), a pacifist, hippie high school physics teacher lived an idyllic, off-grid life along with his pregnant wife Nastya (Maryna Koshkina). When the Russians invaded Donbas in 2014, the couple were caught unaware as they did not own a television or phone to warn them of the impending invasion. The Russian soldiers beat and kill Nastya and burn their home to the ground. Traumatized by the incident, Mykola decides to enlist with the Ukrainian Army to train as a sniper, vowing revenge for his wife.

Cast

 * Pavlo Aldoshyn - Mykola (White Raven)
 * Maryna Koshkina - Nastya
 * Roman Semysal — Brigade commander
 * Andriy Mostrenko — Cap
 * Oleg Drach - Syeryy
 * Roman Yasinovskyi — Klim
 * Vadym Lyalko — Commander of the GRU
 * Oleg Shulga — Danube
 * Petro Nedzelsky — Commander in the headquarters

Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 18 professional reviews.