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The Dam

Name: The Dam
Director: Oleksii Taranenko
Released: 2025
Duration: 99 min

Representation Score

8.3/10

Excellent

2025

Director

Oleksii Taranenko

Runtime

99 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

The film stands out by placing a woman in a position of high command, challenging traditional leadership hierarchies. It also provides a strong critique of historical state-sponsored violence and systemic corruption. However, the narrative lacks multi-layered markers such as LGBTQ+ identities or multi-ethnic casting, limiting its diversity score. Its strength lies in its thematic depth regarding institutional oppression rather than broad social representation.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Dam have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly depict LGBTQ+ identities or non-straight relationships. It focuses on military survival and cohesion without derogatory portrayals.

How does The Dam portray gender?

Good

Mara, a female fighter, leads the military detachment, challenging traditional masculine leadership roles in action and horror genres.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Dam?

Fair

The cast is ethnically uniform and Ukrainian, fitting the setting of the Russian invasion. The story avoids 'white-as-default' clichés by focusing on a specific national conflict.

How does The Dam represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The film critiques Soviet institutions and historical totalitarianism. It portrays state-run facilities as corrupt through unethical human experiments in a secret bunker.

Does The Dam include disability representation?

Limited

Zombies represent loss of autonomy but act as antagonists rather than characters with ability to act. There is no representation of neurodivergent or non-horror disabilities.

Present on Screen

Challenges traditional masculine leadership roles by centering a female protagonist in a position of command.
Offers a strong critique of historical totalitarianism and the dehumanization in state-run institutions.
Grounded in a specific geopolitical conflict that avoids Western-centric narrative defaults.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-straight relationship dynamics.
Features an ethnically homogeneous cast with little multi-ethnic diversity.
Does not include neurodivergent characters or representation of disability outside of horror-based biological degradation.

Official Synopsis

The film takes place during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the Kakhovka dam is blown up, a detachment of Ukrainian soldiers led by a female fighter with the call sign Mara finds themselves in a secret Soviet bunker at the bottom of a reservoir where the USSR conducted human experiments during the Cold War. The consequences of these experiments are still in the bunker in the form of the half-living corpses of Soviet soldiers. Now, in order to survive, Ukrainians need to defeat the Soviet zombies, their own fear, as well as overcome internal disputes and trust each other.

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