By Fizza Qaisar
ISLAMABAD: Last weekend, the Russian Embassy in Pakistan hosted a unique cultural event at the Centaurus Cineplex in Islamabad. The capital city witnessed a screening that crossed the boundaries of simple entertainment. As part of the “Russian Cinema Days,” local Pakistani audiences were introduced to Baby (Малыш), a striking war drama directed by Andrei Simonov. The event offered free entry to the public, drawing a large crowd of cinema lovers, students, and analysts.
The movie does not look like a loud, explosive action film. Instead, it is a sad, deep, and deeply personal story about a young boy caught in a brutal war. For a long time, international news channels have focused on a single narrative of this war. We always hear from the media that only Ukraine is facing cruelty in this conflict. However, this film gives us another side of the story. It shows that there are always multiple sides to a war, but the true picture lies somewhere in the middle.
The Story of a Musician Turned Soldier
The movie follows the life of Dima, an 18-year-old boy from Donetsk. Dima is not a soldier. He has no interest in politics or military strategy. He is simply a music enthusiast who loves playing instruments and living in his own peaceful world. However, war does not care about innocent dreams. His life changes completely when his father passes away, leaving him entirely alone in a fractured world.
Soon after, Dima finds out that his estranged mother is trapped inside the dangerous, war-torn city of Mariupol. The city is surrounded by intense fighting, and her life is in immediate danger. The love for his mother changes Dima instantly. He realizes that no one else is going to save her. Driven by pure desperation, the young teenager leaves his musical instruments behind and picks up a Kalashnikov rifle.
He joins the frontline volunteer forces to get access to the combat zone where his mother is trapped. Upon arrival, he receives the military call-sign or nickname “Baby” (Малыш). The nickname is a cruel reminder of his age and innocence. The rest of the film follows his harrowing journey through the frontlines, where he must fight not just to find his mother, but to survive the psychological horror of active combat.
Literal Analysis: Trapped in the Trenches
On a literal level, Baby is a raw, direct story of survival and human endurance. The director, Andrei Simonov, intentionally avoids the grand, Hollywood-style depiction of war. There are no invincible heroes, no choreographed fight scenes, and no massive, unrealistic computer-generated explosions. Instead, the director uses a realistic, documentary-style approach to filmmaking.
The camera work is highly intentional. The lens stays very close to Dima’s face for most of the film. This claustrophobic framing forces the audience to experience the war exactly as Dima experiences it. The movie literally traps the viewers inside dark, muddy trenches, freezing temporary shelters, and ruined concrete buildings. There is no wide view of the battlefield; there is only the immediate terror of the next corner.
The literal narrative focuses heavily on the physical and mental details of war. We see the cold hands, the heavy mud on the boots, the lack of food, and the constant, deafening sound of unseen artillery. The film does not show the high-level generals sitting in safe, warm command rooms making maps. It shows the low-level volunteers who are stuck in the dirt. On this literal surface, the story is a tragic showcase of how war completely destroys a young boy’s innocence. It highlights the brutal reality of a teenager who is forced to grow up in a matter of days because a rifle has been placed in his hands.
Critical Analysis: The Battle of Perspectives
On a critical level, Baby acts as a powerful tool that challenges how the world views the modern Russia-Ukraine conflict. It enters a crowded global media space where public opinion is heavily guarded. By analyzing the subtext, the themes, and the characters, the movie breaks down the conflict into three distinct sides:
1. The Ukraine Side
This is the perspective that global audiences see every single day on international television networks and social media platforms. This side focuses heavily on the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure, the displacement of millions of citizens, and the immense suffering of the people living under state control. It frames the conflict strictly as an unprovoked external invasion. This narrative is well-known to the Pakistani public because it dominates the mainstream media space.
2. The Russia Side
The screening of Baby presents Russia’s perspective, which is rarely seen in international cinema halls. The film critically reframes the war by focusing on the local population of the Donbas and Donetsk regions. By making the hero a local boy from Donetsk, the movie argues that the people of this region have been suffering under local conflict for many years.
Critically, the film frames these locals as allies who had absolutely no choice but to pick up weapons to defend their own families and homes from hostile forces. It portrays the Russian-aligned volunteer forces not as aggressive invaders, but as protective shields for an ignored local population. By showing Dima’s mother trapped in Mariupol, the film implies that the opposing forces are the ones putting civilian lives in danger.
3. The Ultimate Truth
The third side is the real truth, which the film accidentally or intentionally reveals through its raw human emotion. The critical truth of the movie is that in any war, the biggest victims are never the politicians, the governments, or the high-ranking officers. The real victims are innocent young people like “Baby.”
The ultimate truth is that war is a tragedy for humanity, regardless of which flag a soldier carries. Dima loses his youth, his dreams, his passion for music, and his mental peace. The film shows that bullet wounds heal, but the psychological trauma of being forced to kill another human being stays forever. The true picture of the war is found in the tears of a mother and the broken spirit of a boy who just wanted to play music.
Why This Movie Matters in Pakistan
The decision by the Russian Embassy to hold this screening in Islamabad is a significant move in cultural diplomacy. In the modern world, wars are not just fought with tanks and missiles on the ground; they are also fought on the silver screen for global public opinion. This is known as soft power projection.
Pakistan has historically maintained a careful, neutral diplomatic stance regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The state has balanced its relationships with both Eastern and Western nations while calling for peaceful dialogue. By providing free entry to the public, the Russian Embassy strategically bypassed official political statements and connected directly with the Pakistani people on a human and emotional level.
Baby proves that a cinema screen can be just as powerful as a real battlefield in shaping minds. It challenges the everyday news cycle and forces the audience to look beyond simple headlines. For the viewers in Islamabad, the movie did not just provide an evening of drama; it provided a deeper, more complex look at the human cost of a war that continues to shape our global history.
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