Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SUPERPOWER [Berlinale 2023 - Berlin, Germany]

The essence of "Superpower" (Berlinale Special Gala) from filmmakers Aaron Kaufman and Sean Penn is being in the middle of the action per se. It is always interesting to see how a documentary unfolds especially when it has been in the public eye as this one had. The duo had already invested in their approach before the fan got hit in February of 2022 and they were in the middle of it. When the war hit, Penn and his people were there. Penn himself does an interesting thing and puts himself on camera which considering his approach could be antithetical but he knows that his personage can both open doors and create an interesting dichotomy in the interpretation of his path in the film as an observer and a commentator. People know his work but they also know his dedication to doing things outside his comfort zone (or maybe within it) with places like Haiti and New Orleans. Penn wants to educate himself almost to the point of blindness. It is an interesting image to see him outside smoking in Kyiv trying to process what is going on while his doc crew (small though it may be) is freaking out.

Penn had been to the Ukraine in the months previous talking to many people about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since that was in itself a story: an actor, popular, known for Russian comedies, suddenly thrust onto the world stage in an impending conflict and not backing down from the bear over the ridge in Vladimir Putin. Penn knows the irony of that ideal, being an actor but also standing up for things. The tricky element is that just like Zelenskyy knows he is on camera performing, so does Penn but where does the line end and the reality begin. The context of what artifice is and how it reflects becomes muddy when you are sitting drinking with actual soldiers and people who are making decisions that can reflect in the deaths of thousands or more. It is heady at times but Penn asks the right questions though he almost does overwhelm them too much with praise. What can you do? It is a hard spot to be in but the cyclical element which reflects when he comes back a year later is interesting one because the war almost has become normalized.

Penn's second interview in person with Zelenskyy in a garden is much different than the one in the bunker but the message is more dire. The takeaway: the longer this goes on, the worse it is for everyone. Zelenskyy says something very interesting here and integrates it with his children (others say it as well)...he doesn't want the hate to be something that can never go away. This is an interesting progression of democracy and of war and its lasting effects. Seeing the film in Berlin itself has that connotation with this place being the heart of World War II and its downfall as well as its proximity to Russia right now as far as Europe's gas. The movie is the right idea at the right time. Does it come to any conclusions? That freedom is fleeting? That freedom takes sacrifice? That people come together when faced with exitinction? "Superpower" in many ways is a practical existential journey that is still being played out examining both through the filmmakers themselves (especially Penn), the interviewees and the subject itself as to who we are and who do we want to be...eventually. A-

By Tim Wassberg