Best movies like Black Raven

In 1950, long after the world has finished fighting World War II, a fight continues behind the newly drawn Iron Curtain: as the Ukrainians keep fighting both Nazi and Soviet abuses, General Roman Shukhevych (Hryhoriy Hladiy) is forced by brutal circumstances and his own sense of honor and duty to lead this effort as an underground war. As portrayed by the film, Shukhevych is a genteel family man who is also a complex character (revolted by ethnic discrimination, a music lover and a military genius) that with his charisma fuels his countrymen with desire for freedom. In the end, Shukhevych's efforts are unable to defeat the Soviets despite paying for his resistance with his life, but they re-enforce Ukrainian patriotism as an underground force until Ukraine finally recovers its freedom from Soviet tyranny.

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

The world has changed beyond recognition. Just yesterday the bustling streets are now deserted and quiet. All around are left in a hurry vehicles, convoys of military equipment, few people move in fear without end. The sky is becoming more green. In search of answers Andrey Luptsov begins a journey with his neighbor Ivan. But where to go when the world is increasingly alien and incomprehensible? Along the way, he finds an unconscious ballerina Andriy Bella, taking care of her, coming to her forgetting about what is going on around them.

Set between the two World Wars and based on true historical events, Bitter Harvest conveys the untold story of the Holodomor, the genocidal famine engineered by the tyrant Joseph Stalin. The film displays a powerful tale of love, honour, rebellion and survival at a time when Ukraine was forced to adjust to the horrifying territorial ambitions of the burgeoning Soviet Union.

Nina, 30, a Ukrainian language teacher who can't leave the city of Luhansk, occupied by separatists in Eastern Ukraine, is forced to undergo retraining courses for teaching Russian. Andrii, 17, is a student who was orphaned in the aftermath of the war. They cross paths when Nina witnesses Andrii being arrested by the police after hanging the Ukrainian flag from the roof of his school. Nina knows that because they live in a world of injustice and lies Andrii can stay in jail for a long time, and she risks her life to free him. As they gravitate towards each other, they try to remind people in the occupied territories that they deserve a future, too.

Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, over implementing progressive policies for their country. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that doesn't realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales, later to become Britain's King Edward VII, provides comic relief. Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera. Their untimely demise at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery.

1918 Ukraine. Patriotic students, protagonists of the film, get ready to defend Kyiv and fight heroically in the Battle of Kruty. On this historical background reveals the story of the Savytskyi family - the general of Ukraine's counterintelligence and his two sons, Andrii and Oleksa.

Mykola is an eccentric pacifist who wants to be useful to humanity. When the war begins at Donbass, Mykola’s naive world is collapsing as the militants kill his pregnant wife and burn his home to the ground. Recovered, he makes a cardinal decision and gets enlisted in a sniper company. Having met his wife’s killers, he emotionally breaks down and arranges “sniper terror” for the enemy. He’s saved from a senseless death by his instructor who himself gets mortally wounded. The death of a friend leaves a “scar” and Mykola is ready to sacrifice his life.

A drama that tells the story of the physician and politician MUDr. František Kriegel, the hero of the Prague Spring of 1968, who was arrested and kidnapped to Moscow on the night of August 21st together with five leaders of the party and the state (Dubček, Černík, Smrkovský, Špaček and Šimon). He was the only Czechoslovak politician who managed to stand up to Brezhnev in Moscow captivity, even under the threat of liquidation, and not to sign the Moscow Protovol which meant agreeing to the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

It is 1953, Stalin has just died. It is a troubled and uncertain period for the whole of the Soviet Union, particularly for the state security services. In the Institute, a secret research facility, the scientists continue their theoretical and experimental work. Every night they strain their ears to listen for footsteps in the dark corridors: who have they come for this time? Who has reported on who? Having survived the fear and humiliation of an interrogation, the Head of the Theoretical Department, Andrei Losev, refuses to cooperate with the security services, only to face a new ordeal back in his own home.

In the early eighteenth century, foreign rule means dark times for the Hutsuls of the Carpathians. The two Dovbush brothers become opryshkos - mountain outlaws. But the two brothers become enemies - one cares only about money, the other - Oleksa - fights for his people. The Carpathians are convulsed with a wave of uprisings. The aristocracy uses its military might to try to kill Dovbush and destroy his legend. But Dovbush outwits them. The desperate lords devise a devious plan and attack the invincible outlaw's Achilles heel - his love for his childhood sweetheart, Marichka. Who will be the assassin to attack the Opryshko whose immense strength and bravery inspired folk tales? Will the lords' treacherous plan destroy the hero before he can lead his people to freedom?

Based on a true story. Two fighters of 'Donbas' Volunteer Battalion get locked inside city of Ilovaysk after regular Russian army enters Ukraine and shells the surrounded divisions of Ukrainian Army in the infamous would-be 'green corridor'. The fighters survive thanks to the help of the locals and manage to break out through the front line to reach the freed territory. Taras Kostanchuk who is playing himself as 'Beshoot' is that same Donbas commander who is the prototype of the story. Half of the actors and extras are real 'Donbas' volunteers who survived the battle.

"Strong Ivan" is a film telling an outstanding life story of Ivan Firtsak who was born in June, 1899 in a Ukrainian village Bilky, Irshava district in Zakarpattia Oblast. At the age of 18 he became a performer with a Czechoslovak circus and travelled to 64 countries of the world, astonishing everybody with his victories. He was a weightlifting champion of Czechoslovakia, a bodybuilding champion of Europe. He earned the nickname Strong Ivan Croton for his incredible strength. Ivan Firtsak won a great number of single combats with famous wrestlers of the world. From hands of the Queen of England he received a helmet and a belt decorated with cold and diamonds. American press called him the strongest man of the XX century. In 1937 in the prime of his fame he came back to the homeland.

In the interweaving of five stories, the New Year's magician himself ceases to believe in miracles, because burdened with life and immersed in work, people completely forget about the holiday. He takes serious action and sells his suit to a simple guy who has long since lost his sense of "New Year's magic". By leaving his position as a magician, Santa deprives people not only of a festive mood, but also of snow that could contribute to this. But contrary to his views on the hopelessness of the modern generation, people notice the changes and become the creators of a real New Year's miracle on their own.

The town of Kahaplyk will soon have a full "haplyk" (aka "hook"): elections again, a corrupt mayor again, the same thing again ... Five Instagram stars are coming to fix the "mayor's reputation". They will be waiting for adventures "for the whole head", a real conspiracy and, of course, a story of true love!

Eight short stories about love in Kyiv.

Long time ago Ukrainian hetman sent his treasures to the British bank, hoping that later Ukraine will get rid of the Moscow yoke and then gold will help Ukrainian people. In modern times KGB agents and foreign spies hunt for hetman's descendant - Ivan Polubotko, guy phlegmatic and narrow-minded, to use him to get the treasure.

1996. 5 years since the declaration of Ukraine’s independence. 5 months before the declaration of the death penalty abolition. The kop is killed. The wrong guy is blamed. Oleksandr is a psychiatrist in his last year before retirement. He will have to solve the crime and make the life-or-death decision under pressure of bribed judge, grieving mother, and revengeful cops.

They could not look indifferently at the bloody wounds of Ukraine, did not stand aside when the Ukrainian East fell into darkness. The story of those who became a symbol of the war for independence.

With guidance from their mother, five siblings overcome humble beginnings to form the renowned gospel group the Clark Sisters.

An historical film that follows the life of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king that united all ancient Greek tribes and led them against the vast Persian Empire. Alexander conquered most of the then-known world and created a Greek empire that spanned all the way from the Balkans to India.

American boy Peter and blind minstrel Ivan are thrown together by fate amidst the turbulent mid-30s Soviet Ukraine.

Set amidst stunning Ukrainian winter landscapes, vanishing villages and emerging feeling of alienation between people in a post-Soviet society, Stepne is a story of a mature man who comes back home from the city to take care of his dying mother. The mother’s passing, together with a meeting with his brother and a woman he loves make him reflect on the life he’s had and choices he’s made along the way. And then, just before her death, the mother tells Anatolii about a treasure she has buried inside the shed…

In the rural Ukraine, in a ghostly world where fantasy tears the veil of reality, life fiercely fights death every day and old values and vengeance reign over people's souls, Vitka, an imaginative and rebellious little girl, is the fascinated witness to the crazy love that Larysa, her teenage cousin, feels for Scar, a young criminal.

FALLING is a story about the post-revolutionary generation of young Ukrainian people looking for their place in a modern Ukraine. It follows two bewildered people who meet at a crucial moment of their existence and experience few days of happiness together.

Love triangle revealed during a wedding is set to a backdrop of Ukrainian history and tradition, with questions of honor and faithfulness asked.

Son Kale Hacibey is a historical action film that tells the story of a battle between the Turkish Ottoman Empire and the Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire on the one hand, and the Russian Empire on the other hand. The forces are fighting to gain control of the Hacibey Castle, an impenetrable fortress located on the Black Sea coast in the heart of Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire. And just when the Russians thought they were winning the battle against Ukrainians and Turks, a mysterious hero - a brave Ukrainian cossack warrior Andriy - arrives in Istambul to deliver a secret message from from Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire's leadership. A message that can forever change the course of this battle.

Film tells the story of one of the most difficult and tragic moments of the liberation war of Ukrainian people against the rule of Poland (1648 - 1657 years) - Battle of Zbarazh.

'A Prayer for Hetman Mazepa' unfolds during an interesting era in the history of Eastern Europe when Russia, under Peter the Great, and Sweden, under King Charles XII, struggled for power; the Ukraine was the pawn in the middle. In 1709, Ivan Mazepa, Hetman of Ukraine, which was part of the Russian Empire, signed a pact with the Swedish king promising to support Sweden in its war against Russia provided that the Ukraine was given its independence.

A funny story of Lviv batiars (noble tramps) who live with the slogan: "To love Lviv, women and jokes". To make their life bright, they resort to various adventures, while remaining positive heroes. Unexpectedly the batiars become guardians of a young beauty and their adventures are gaining new momentum. The film's events take place in Lviv in 1938-1939.

This is a portrait of a man, for whom the war in Eastern Ukraine has become a personal challenge. Beard is a native of the Donbas, a man of about forty-five, a family guy, an ordinary worker. Director is a young man of about twenty-six, single, a west-man, coming from the intelligentsia. This is the usual day of the ordinary military. These are events and people whom you can meet there. This is the relationship between people who have to be here and now during the war. This is not only a unique life experience but also a kind of cultural exchange between different social strata and communities. This is the birth of new, special traditions.

Death, which did not happen – it's just the beginning. Iryna miraculously survived after an accident. Facing death changed her forever. From time to time, Iryna started to see visions. They were short fragments episodes, fragmentary images. She couldn't understand it, and how does this relate to her. Over time, she learned to analyze what is happening in her head, and it started to bear fruit. Iryna began to solve the crime scenes. This is a story that is dangerously balancing on the edge of life and death, reality and dreaming, white lie and killing truth. A story that will change forever the fate of the inhabitants of a small town.

Katya and her husband Alexey had a quiet normal life until the picture of Katya suddenly made a magazine front cover.

A conversation with a woman waiting at the stop of a non-existent bus #13 becomes a turning point in the life of all her interlocutors. People "wake up" from the power of stereotypes and false beliefs, and act in accordance with their new understanding. Their stories show that moral choice is not always legal, but legitimate - not always moral. This builds one of the main ideas of the film: "Everyone is entangled with false stereotypes and ideas, but the only true way is to live their lives."

Film reconstruction of five real stories about the heroic deeds of the residents of Kyiv region during the Russian occupation. A story about those who heroically and selflessly saved tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives.