In “Ukraine Without Jews,” Vasily Grossman sketches an ode to the victims of the massacre led by the German army in September 1941 in Ukraine, with the silent complicity of local authorities and civilians. Serghei Loznitsa quotes Grossman in his movie and he does it with a specific aim: to fill a historic void and to fight against oblivion. And his movie serves exactly the same purpose: “Babi Yar. Context” is a powerful memento and at the same time an almost organic anamnesis process, where anonymous figures rising in waves from the depths of time give us an overwhelming feeling of immediate presence, a presence which transcends immateriality through the power of images to preserve suffering, fear, and a lost world on the texture of film. “Babi Yar. Context” is not an easy movie to watch, but it is more than necessary since it addresses a shattering truth pertaining to Holocaust in all its forms, namely that, despite everything, despite the attempt to eradicate an entire existence, a culture, and a spirit, genocide leaves indelible marks, even 80 years later. What Loznitsa does goes beyond mere contextualization: by adding layers of meaning and uncovering forgotten, dust-covered histories, he forces us to confront the unknown ghosts of history, potential reflections from the past, who have come to seek justice at last. (Andreea Chiper)