Winter on Fire, a must-see documentary
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This is a documentary film that is not new. It was released on Netflix in 2015. But the nature of the movie is such that you have to see it. Especially if you are about to forget what happened in Ukraine in the winter of 2013-14, or if you simply want a reminder of what the Maidan revolution in Ukraine was, why it happened and the violence perpetrated by incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych.
A simple but thorough documentary
The film is simple in its form. It does not fully analyze the content. Instead, it takes us out onto the street, among the people who were there. We see and hear descriptions. We get to hear the people’s own assessment of why they took part in the protests against Viktor Yanukovych. The development from when Viktor Yanukovych betrayed his own people by not signing an agreement with the EU, to the massacres on Maidan Square where Berkut (Security Police) shot and killed over 100 people.
Although the documentary is simple in its form, it is thorough in the way it takes us through the entire development. The movie is also appropriately violent. Not showing injury, death and blood in such a documentary would be poor craftsmanship. The film allows us to see this, not in too large a dose but enough for us to understand what happened.
The beginning of war
The Maidan revolution in the winter of 2013-14 was the start of a war with Russia. A war that is still unfolding in Donbas, eastern Ukraine and where the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Russia. As someone in this documentary says, Viktor Yanukovych promised to lead Ukraine to Europe. The people felt betrayed when he wouldn’t sign the cooperation agreement with the EU, but would instead sign a cooperation agreement with Putin. He went on to say that the people want to go to Europe to live as a modern country.
This documentary stops when the Maidan Revolution was completed and Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in exile. If you’re an EU opponent, don’t think of Ukraine’s need to cooperate with the EU through Norwegian eyes. For them, Europe is a symbol of economic equalization, social benefits and democracy. It is this dream that the Ukrainian people went in their peaceful demonstration to mark. They were met with bullets, batons and violence.
A must-see movie if you’re at all interested in society and a movie you can watch again even if you’ve already seen it.
1 thought on “Winter on Fire, a must-see documentary”
Jeg bodde i Odessa da. Ukraina den vinteren kan ikke beskrives med noe ord.