PBS POV - My Perestroika

[eablair3]

"My Perestroika" was on PBS POV this past week. There still may be showings this weekend on your local PBS station.

Anyone seen this? It's supposed to be really good.

[locahungaria]

1. I caught the very last part of it yesterday.....

and it seemed really interesting!

I just noticed that it's going to air again in about an hour, so I look forward to watching it in its' entirety.

[eablair3]

2. Repeats tonight for me

It caught my attention when I saw it was a top rated film this year at Metacritic, fwiw.

http://www.metacritic.com/browse/movies/score/metascore/year?sort=desc&view=condensed&year_selected=2011

[locahungaria]

3. OK, I watched it....

and yes, it is well worth the watch!

The most eye-opening part to me was to hear how very similar they sound to typical Americans; their conversations in Moscow were almost identical to conversations had in any urban American city. Their thoughts on capitalism and "The West" were very interesting also. It was quite thought provoking.

I highly recommend making a point of watching it, if at all possible.

:)

[eablair3]

5. Saw it, too

I agree it was really good and thought provoking on so many different levels. Lots and lots of similarities with America, but just on the flip side, so to speak.

I saw the post-film interview with the film maker where she explained how she chose the 5 individuals portrayed. So, I understand what she was doing by portraying more "ordinary" people. But, they were all fairly similar in that they were all never really part of the "system." I wonder whether it could have been better by choosing one who was part of the system growing up and perhaps was in the Youth group and later in the Party to see their perspective as well as to how things changed for them.

Excellent film though.

[locahungaria]

7. That hadn't occurred to me at the time.....

But yes, it would have been nice to hear perspectives from a much broader spectrum.

I wasn't able to rec this either; msg says that you must be a donating member to rec threads in this group.....:shrug:

[The Big Vetolski]

4. I saw it today. Well worth 90 minutes of your time.

The documentary traces the lives of several Russian classmates who went to Soviet schools in the seventies through the present. I identified very strongly with the pony-tailed history teacher. The film is interlaced with home movies taken of the Russians when they were kids. Hell, from what I was told about the Soviet Union when I was their age, I didn't even know that Russians at that time HAD home movies. Much less vacations that seem far more generous to anything I can afford now.

For that matter, from what I was told, the sun never shown, the grass was never green, and their world was literally shades of gray with no color except for the red flags.

These are people who grew up under Communism, some of whom longed for rock n' roll and blue jeans, who lived through the Second Russian Revolution. Looking back, most of them see some advantages to the old Soviet system; things like stability, a roof over one's head, a decent education, and enough food to eat. They also see some things that are better under the new capitalistic system, and all enjoy new found freedom of expression. One became a pure capitalist bastard. One's a single mother with much the same problems as single mothers in America. Their kids are much the same as ours. Most have the same hopes and fears as most of us do right here in the USA.

I do admit I was embarrassed by what most said the Americans had brought them. It's well worth watching. Sorry, but I'm unable to recommend this article at the moment.

[eablair3]

6. Really interesting to hear some ordinary people

Yes, I agree it was interesting to see and hear real people who lived through those eras. It's not something that we hear or see much here.