Starting out as an aggressive delinquent, a young man nicknamed "Rhino" quickly works his way up the criminal hierarchy in 1990's Ukraine. Rhino has only known power and cruelty, but with nothing left to lose, could he finally find a chance at redemption?

Curator of the program 'Focus: Ukraine–Canada' Jason Gorber:

Viewed by those outsides of Ukraine, divorced from the knowledge of director Oleg Sentsov’s and lead actor Serhii Filimonov’s past, Rhino is on its face a stylish, brutal, exceptionally well-realized tale of a young man raised from bullied to bully. The film has all the tropes of the great gangster tales, playing as a morality play, as a carefully crafted historical documentation of a tumultuous period, and as a beautifully realized character piece. Scratch the surface into the circumstances of Stensov’s imprisonment, Filimonov’s own complicated story, along with navigating the challenging history of post-Soviet Ukraine of the 1990s, and you have the makings of all great art, where the closer you look the more you can find to unpack. The film needs no political controversy or stunt casting to fuel its excellence, and it generates an authenticity that’s palpable across cultures and countries The result is a powerful mix of cinematic craft, horrifying imagery, and a nuanced portrayal of an animalist thug navigating his way back to redemption, only to find he is trapped by the circle of violence that he has helped foster.