Poem of the Sea

The village is located within the flood zone of the new Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant reservoir. When the station becomes operational, the reservoir will rise and submerge the entire village, including whitewashed cottages, cherry orchards, the club, school, and ancestral graves, replacing it with an artificial sea.

Savva Zarudnyy, the collective farm chairman, wanted to give the villagers one last chance to see their beloved home before it disappears underwater. His heartfelt effort underscores the urgency and emotional weight of the village's imminent fate.

Fedorchenko left because his youthful ambitions drew him toward a wider world and a larger future. Despite his mother's pleas and the collective farm chairman's urging to stay, he chose to pursue his career elsewhere, never looking back until his return.

The construction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant drained the village of its workforce. Nearly all recent school graduates joined the grand project, attracted by the promise of jobs and a brighter future in the developing city of Nova Kakhovka.

Several prominent figures who once lived in the village returned: architect Aristarkhov, polar explorer, pilot, writer Pisatel, a deputy minister, and six colonels. They had all left decades ago to pursue careers in various fields but answered Zarudnyy's summons to say goodbye.

The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant is a major Soviet infrastructure project underway in Nova Kakhovka. Its reservoir required flooding numerous villages in the region, including the one at the center of the film. The plant represents the government's ambitious push for industrial progress.

Decades had passed since they left the village, and time had altered their appearances. The initial recognitions were imperfect, names failed to align with faces, though old friendships quickly flickered back to life as emotions surged during the reunion in the village square.

When the reservoir fills, the entire landscape of memory will be swallowed by water: whitewashed cottages, cherry orchards, the community club, the school, and most importantly, the ancestral graves where generations of villagers lay at rest. Only the artificial sea will remain.

His mother and the collective farm chairman recognized the importance of maintaining the village's community and traditions. They understood that each departure, especially of a promising young person, weakened the fabric of rural life, particularly as the dam project began drawing away the younger generation.

The artificial sea represents the cost of progress, progress that requires sacrificing ancestral homes, community heritage, and historical continuity. It stands as a visual metaphor for the displacement of rural Ukrainian life in favor of Soviet industrial ambitions.