After uncovering a controversy in the captions of Russians at War, Rachel Ho digs into the art of translation

This is part of a new film column from Rachel Ho looking at Canadian cinema from a new point of view.

Debuting this column last month with an examination of the discourse around a film as complex and politically charged as Russians at War instigated a multitude of questions and opinions from readers, colleagues, and of course, from the interview subjects themselves. Those critical of the documentary labelled it an act of Russian propaganda, while its defenders levied accusations of knee-jerk censorship, declaring that the film deserved to be seen by audiences everywhere.  But across all of the various issues I discussed with Anastasia Trofimova and Natalie Semotiuk, one point of contention raised a particular flag of interest with me.

In criticizing the film, Semotiuk asserted that derogatory slurs towards Ukrainians were used by Russian soldiers in the film and their translation into English via subtitling failed to encompass their pejorative nature. In response, Trofimova (the film’s director) stated her team had in fact provided a direct and literal translation of the words Semotiuk took issue with.

To be clear, I don’t seek in the slightest to re-litigate this specific issue; however, it did send me down a rabbit hole of thought regarding the power of translation, particularly in movies.

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Source: CBC