I have to share this amazing gift/skill

Gail posted this at FB and I immediately wanted to pass it on to visitors here.

Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation (Україна має талант / Ukraine's Got Talent)




I followed the comment thread at YouTube and am adding notes to enrich this for y'all.

From what I have gathered, it is a generic story - a couple sitting on a peaceful park bench, the war starts, the song in the background tells of a woman waiting for her husband at home with a baby in a crib holding a candle, more bombs fall, she gets the envelope letting her know her husband has died, she visits the graveyard, then looks out the window with her son and sees her husband's ghost before writing "you are always near".

It's about the Nazi invasion of Ukraine, and a love story of a young couple. At the end she writes "I am waiting for you", to the Ukrainian/soviet sailor. That's why people in the audience cry, as Ukraine/Russia suffered such horrendous loss of life during WWII.
It's one of the most original things I've ever seen, and she's brilliant.

I am not sure if you know the history of Ukraine, but I do. Women cut off their own breasts and fried and fed them to their children because the famine was so bad.

These children are now parents to most Ukrainians, and the stories are only a generation removed.
If you were starving, would you watch your mother cut off her breast to feed you? Would you eat it? If you want to know why these people cried, submerse yourself in the history of Ukraine!

Yes, it's depicting Ukraine during WWII. Ukraine was one of the countries hardest hit by the war. One of every four Ukrainians died, I believe.

There were also some very stupid and racist comments in that thread so I am not linking it. The hostility between Ukraine and Russia is strong and the artist is Russian.

Which does not diminish the skill in telling this graphic story.

Enjoy.

--the BB