Stay Online (Review) – Fantasia 2023

Stay Online is awaiting a UK release date.

On Thursday, 24th February 2022, life in Ukraine suddenly and violently changed as Russia invaded the sovereign democracy after months of military build-up on its borders and diplomatic lies. For the people of Ukraine, this invasion sparked anger, fear, a need for justice and a sudden and sharp change in life as air raid sirens sounded in cities and towns, and bunkers became second homes. The bravery shown by all those who stood firm and vowed to fight was inspiring to all of us watching from foreign lands. But none of us could fully comprehend or understand the feelings, emotions and fears that thread through families, friends, partners and children as Russian missiles fell from the sky and tanks rumbled through towns. In the first feature film to come out of Ukraine since the war started, director Yeva Strielnikova doesn’t simply offer us a taut screentime thriller; she explores the impossible choices, decisions and simmering anger the invasion brought. Stay Online may aesthetically fit the same mould as films like Searching, but it is so much more.

Modern warfare is played out on screens as well as on the battlefield; Stay Online powerfully explores the role of the internet, instant messaging apps, social media, and live video in steering the course of events. As war broke out, thousands of laptops and devices were donated to the war effort in Ukraine, with many finding their way into the hands of civilian volunteers and those on the front line. Katya (Yelyzaveta Zaitseva) is one of those volunteers; her mission is to collect photos of dead Russian soldiers from her boyfriend Ryan (Anton Skrypets) and identify the bodies through internet searches, messages and social media. But she only has a few hours with each laptop delivered before it passes to someone else.

As she sits in her bathroom with air raid sirens wailing outside, Katya explores the new laptop just delivered and quickly realises it belongs to a man named Andriy Fetsenko (Roman Liakh). As Katya opens each application, Andriy’s calender and messages provide a constant stream of information that spotlights his life with his wife and young son Sava (Hordii Dziubynskyi). Usually, Katya would ignore these personal messages, emails and appointments. But it quickly becomes apparent that Sava was separated from his parents as they fled the human rights abuses and massacre in Bucha. Going against her instinct to not get involved, Katya starts exploring Andriy’s social media in an attempt to find him and reunite father and mother with their son, enlisting the help of Ryan and her brother fighting on the front line near Bucha, Vitya (Oleksandr Rudynskyi). But in war, all decisions have unforeseen consequences and all humanitarian actions come with risk.

The screentime format allows Strielnikova to explore the complexities and heartbreak of modern warfare while keeping the audience engaged through the messages, videos and news alerts on Kayta’s laptop. The result is a tense, engaging, heartbreaking thriller that defies any simple genre label. But even more impressive is the performance of Yelyzaveta Zaitseva, who holds the film together and provides it with the emotional core needed when exploring the impossible decisions people face during warfare. Strelnikova’s feature debut is an assured screentime thriller and a human story of survival, humanitarianism and bravery in the face of an illegal war. Its discussions on the role of modern technology in warfare are fascinating, but it is the human stories in Stay Online that remain with you long after the credits have rolled.

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