Saturday, January 23, 2016

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2015)

Nominated for Best Documentary    Remember The Square from 2013?  This is Netflix's new flavor of internal revolution, except less warm and fuzzy.

The Ukrainian people were mostly in favor of joining the European Union in 2014.  Unfortunately, their democratically-elected President chose to make a back-alley deal with Russia instead.  Hundreds of students took to Maidan Square in Kiev to protest.  The President doubled down, sending a paramilitary-style police force to break up the people by any means, including violence.  Rookie mistake.  This reprisal turned a bunch of peaceful protesters into an occupying revolution.  Think Les Miserables on the set of Doctor Zhivago.

I'm being flippant because it's funnier and this is the Internet but the actual footage is anything but mirthful.  The police brutality against unarmed civilians, aid workers, and religious personnel is sickening.  The solidarity of those same civilians, people of all strata, faiths, and creeds, is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Based on precedent, I don't think this has a chance of winning since it's up against two biographies of tragically deceased musicians, one about a drug war, and a follow-up to The Act of Killing.  You should still watch it, though.

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