If you are ever in Russia and suddenly every TV channel starts showing ‘Swan Lake’ continuously, then look out of the window as there is a bound to be a Revolution going on. That’s not a myth, but a reality and one of the many unlikely facts we learn from this enthralling documentary that traces a group of intelligent and articulate friends, now in their 40’s, whose childhoods coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Without even a hint of irony, Lyuba, a high school teacher married to Borya her childhood sweetheart also now a teacher, declares ‘I was completely satisfied with my beautiful Soviet reality.’ And so would I have been after witnessing their remarkable contented lives, thanks to treasure trove of home video. By no means perfect, but as Olga, a single mother said. ‘When I saw all the violence and crime in the West on the news, I was so happy that I lived in Russia.’
This refreshing insider’s view of life focused on the day-to-day struggles which seemed immensely more important to these individuals than even the most profound political changes. Without any narration, and comment, American Director, and one time Moscow resident, Robin Hessman, allows us to witness a normality that the indoctrination of our own upbringing about the ‘evil empire’ of the USSR would never allowed us to even imagine in the past.
Totally unmissable
★★★★★★★★★
Click for Trailer
Click for Trailer
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