About the film
About The Lock
A psychological drama grounded in lived experience, historical context, and the long shadow of an unresolved war.
Synopsis
In 2018, four years after Russia destabilised Ukraine, hostilities in Eastern Ukraine stagnate but never end. Petro, recently wheelchair-bound after serving in the warzone, returns home to South-East Ukraine with his closest friend Andrii. Petro's mother, now living in the UK, urges him to leave. He refuses.
Back in civilian life, Petro becomes consumed by a broken lock and screeching gate in his residential area. The sound triggers traumatic memories of the moment he was injured. What should be a simple local repair turns into a symbol of collective indifference: neighbours avoid responsibility, defer action, and carry on as if nothing is happening.
Andrii, who came back physically unharmed, believes he has no right to trauma. He channels guilt into caretaking, insisting he must be Petro's legs. As he attempts to rebuild a "normal" life, he discovers that war has changed him too, even if he cannot yet name it.
Together, the two veterans confront a society split by misinformation, fear, and exhaustion. Their struggle is not only with memory and disability, but with the loneliness of returning from war into a world that would rather look away.
Historical Context
In 2014, Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity marked a pro-European civic turning point. In the aftermath, Crimea was annexed and Kremlin-backed forces escalated conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk. The hostilities became known in Ukraine as the Anti-Terrorist Operation.
By 2018, after the Minsk Agreements, the war in the East had entered a prolonged and unstable stagnation. It remained active, but increasingly distant in public attention. This social distance forms the backdrop of The Lock.
The film is set before the full-scale invasion of 2022, in a period often flattened in international discourse. It focuses on the everyday consequences of unresolved conflict: fractured trust, unprocessed trauma, and institutions still learning how to reintegrate veterans.
Why this project matters
The Lock aims to humanise a period of recent Ukrainian history that is frequently misunderstood. Rather than treating war as distant statistics, it follows the emotional and practical realities of people trying to live, love and belong after service.
The film also foregrounds disability and access: what happens when a society is physically and psychologically unprepared to support those it calls heroes. It explores mobility barriers, untreated post-traumatic stress, and the social cost of silence.
Developed by Ukrainian filmmakers with first-hand cultural context, the project is built as both reflection and testimony — a cinematic work committed to complexity over simplification.