Collecting Bodies in Bucha

Luke Mogelson reports from the scene of an atrocity in Ukraine. Plus: the literature of cabin fever; and Bruce Willis’s minimalist star power. View in browser | Update your preferences Wednesday, April 6, 2022 Warning: today’s lead story contains disturbing and sensitive material. In today’s newsletter: • Luke Mogelson reports from the scene of an atrocity in Ukraine • Bruce Willis’s minimalist star power • The many secrets of New York’s Jamaica Bay Collecting Bodies in Bucha A team of Ukrainian volunteers say that, since the Russian retreat, they have picked up three hundred corpses. Photograph by James Nachtwey “Iryna Havryliuk was one of thousands of Ukrainians who fled Bucha in early March, after Russian forces occupied a northern suburb of Kyiv. Her husband, Sergey, a forty-seven-year-old private security guard, decided to stay. The couple owned two dogs and six cats, which Sergey refused to abandon. Joining throngs of displaced civilians, Havryliuk crossed the icy currents of the Irpin River on a treacherous walkway composed of pallets and scrap lumber—which had been constructed beneath a bridge destroyed by an air strike. She eventually made it to Zakarpattia, in western Ukraine. After the Russians sabotaged Bucha’s power plant and began confiscating people’s phones, she lost contact with Sergey. For a month, as battles raged north of Kyiv, Havryliuk hoped and waited. On Sunday, Russian forces retreated from the area, and Havryliuk received news that Sergey was dead. On Monday, she went home.” In a harrowing report from Bucha, Luke Mogelson and the photographer James Nachtwey chronicle what came next. Read the story Editor’s Picks Daily Comment Will Mercenaries and Foreign Fighters Change the Course of Ukraine’s War? At a critical strategic juncture, non-state actors threaten to complicate the conflict. By Robin Wright Notebook The Literature of Cabin Fever How lockdown fits into the canon, from the Mad Trapper of Rat River to Huckleberry Finn to “The Shining.” By Ian Frazier The Pictures Cultural Comment Bruce Willis’s Minimalist Star Power Long before aphasia affected his performances, Willis brought a misunderstood effortlessness to his best movie roles. By Adam Nayman National Magazine Award Winners Photographs by Balazs Gardi and Rose Lichter-Marck Last night, The New Yorker won two National Magazine Awards for its work in 2021. The contributing writer Luke Mogelson won in the Video category for his shocking and surreal footage from inside the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on January 6, 2021. And the staff writer Rachel Aviv won in the Profile Writing category for her nuanced portrait of Elizabeth Loftus, one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, whose work has come into conflict with the urgent moral issues of our time. Video Dept. A Reporter’s Footage from Inside the Capitol Siege Luke Mogelson followed Trump supporters as they forced their way into the Senate chamber, using his phone’s camera as a reporter’s notebook. By The New Yorker Profiles How Elizabeth Loftus Changed the Meaning of Memory The psychologist taught us that what we remember is not fixed, but her work testifying for defendants like Harvey Weinstein collides with our traumatized moment. By Rachel Aviv Culture Dept. The New Yorker Documentary The Many Secrets of Jamaica Bay in “Greywater” A filmmaker sets out to investigate a poaching ring and discovers a tangle of environmental-justice issues in the New York City waterway. Film by Daniel Lombroso Text by Erik Baard The Front Row Judd Apatow’s “The Bubble,” Reviewed The movie is a sketch assemblage without a strong dramatic arc, but the fury beneath it is authentic. By Richard Brody L.A. Postcard Tinx’s Field Guide for Rich Moms and Bad Boyfriends Like an advice columnist but on Instagram, Christina Najjar dispenses wisdom on self-esteem and how to avoid fuck boys to her nearly two million social-media followers during a walk around Beverly Hills. By Sheila Yasmin Marikar Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Will Nediger Daily Shouts The Following Film Contains Actors Your Parents May Have Seen Before The movie you’re about to watch with your parents is rated R for “Really Packed with Character Actors.” By Carrie Pinkard Crossword A Lightly Challenging Puzzle River spanned by the Pont Neuf: five letters. By Wyna Liu Daily Cartoon Wednesday, April 6th By David Sipress P.S. A British judge has ruled that the singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran “neither deliberately, nor subconsciously” plagiarized his hit “Shape of You” from the work of another artist, in a case that was being closely watched by the pop world. In 2019, the writer Carrie Battan, though praising much of Sheeran’s songwriting, was critical of the “Caribbean-inflected” “Shape of You,” writing that it “forced his listeners to picture him in an unnatural-sounding game of seduction” and “had a strong whiff of pandering.” Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.