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

Such a frustrating disappointment

Instant Favorite.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

You mean alike the fire through which on May 2, 2014 31 pro-Russia protesters who were cornered in the lobby of some trade union building in Odessa and who were locked inside by the "freedom fighters" and then set on fire and burned alive? You mean like THIS fire? Or it is some other type of fire that you have in mind? Like, for example, the heavy mortars' and howitzer weapons' fire that leveled the village of Adreyevka in Donetsk region in late May 2014? The same indiscriminate heavy artillery fire via which the Ukrainians annihilated many other small towns and villages throughout Lugansk and Donetsk since 2014?Yeah, that must be the one... Right? RIGHT??

To start with the positive: The movie is well-made, nice but sometimes really shocking and graphic pictures showing Kiev at war. I really liked the individual approach of getting to know the background stories of some of the people involved. However, and that it is why it got some points deducted - it is terribly one-sided. One has no idea how the government reacts to it or what they do to calm the situation. It would have been nice to include a local as well as a global insight into politics here. Furthermore, a link to how things are now is missing too. A simple reference in the credits on how this has developed into a division of the country would have been sufficient (at least for me).

The documentary follows the uprising in Ukraine and the everyday people involved in the event. The viewer is presented with a time line of the main clashes between the government forces and the protesters. The idea and the inspiration of the people is a main theme of the documentary, but also a black and white narrative. The good side is the revolutionists and the bad side are the ones trying to stop them. Of course there are aggressions by the government forces and misbehavior from both sides, which is clearly presented in the film. Nevertheless what is not presented is that this revolution is a political event which has two sides that have opinions that cannot be regarded as right or wrong.The viewer doesn't get ANY viewpoint of the oppositional mindset and everyone standing with the government are presented as thugs or paid aggressors. This unfair presentation made me loose interest in the film, because getting both sides of the story is a vital part of documenting history. I was actually standing more on the protesters side when hearing about the revolution in 2014, but also acknowledging that there were people with more conservative views and that only a fraction of all Ukrainians were in Maidan square, protesting. How the filmmaker regards the revolution as "the will of the people" in this regard is unclear. Because of this I consider the "documentary" more of a emotional stigmatization, e. a. political propaganda, of a political viewpoint, with its heart touching music in just the right moments rather than a correct account of the uprising in Ukraine in 2014.

"Winter on Fire" is a beautiful and important film. It tells the story of an amazing show of collective humanity that culminated in a revolution in Europe's largest country, a country most Americans knew next to nothing about. Ukraine's story of its "Euromaidan Revolution" has been all but hijacked by a newly aggressive Russia. "Winter on Fire" takes back the people's story, with breathtaking scenes from the front- lineson Maidan Square. It's a must-see for anyone who is interested in history, geopolitics, Russia, the Soviet Union, civil rights, collective action, or anyone who just wants to experience a powerful human story.Ukraine has become part of our geopolitical vocabulary. And it's all because of "EuroMaidan," a movement that began as a student protest in a public square ("Maidan" in Ukrainian) in the fall of 2013 and ended in the winter of 2014 as the Ukrainian people's Revolution of Dignity, changing not only Ukraine, but the world.The story of those 93 days in Ukraine's capital is the subject of this electrifying new documentary by Russian-born American director Evgeny Afineevsky. Fittingly for a film about a people's revolution, Afineevsky assembled a people's crew of no less than 28 cinematographers as well as participants and witnesses to chronicle the dramatic events as they unfolded to make history in the streets of Kyiv, giving rise to a civil rights movement that successfully ousted a corrupt political regime.At the center of any film about a people's revolution is of course the people. And "Winter on Fire" delivers a gripping account as seen through the eyes of a cross-section of participants on the front-lines. As the movement evolved in response to government actions. Afineevsky takes us along for the sometimes joyous and sometimes painful ride with the people in front of and behind the cameras. Rarely does he turn to explanatory narrative. Instead, "Winter on Fire" immerses its viewers in the voices of the people and sounds on the square. Afineevsky intersperses dramatic footage from the streets with interviews of many of those same participants returning to the scene of the events. The film moves like a novel, weaving back and forth from elements of narrative to character. In this way, we learn as well as experience the story as it progresses and the participants as they transform through various stages of the revolution."Winter on Fire" also has a gentle, and, at times, haunting original score composed by Jasha Klebe, which helps the audience cope with the more explicit scenes of violence. Having followed the events at the time, I can honestly say, "Winter on Fire" manages to capture the remarkably inspiring and idealistic spirit exhibited over those many days by the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians that filled central Kyiv's Maidan. Everyone was there. People from all walks of life came to Maidan, from different cities and regions and even beyond Ukraine's borders. Young, old, soldiers, teachers, hipsters, engineers, doctors, professionals. Even runaways, like the streetwise 12-year old boy who helped out by charging cell phones among other things. Russian speakers and Ukrainian speakers as well as Muslims, Christians and Jews all worked together. People set up kitchens so no one was hungry. There were tents dedicated to media and technical equipment. Concerts, speakers, poets, politicians came to the stage in an orderly manner. Schedules of events were posted daily. Everything on the square seemed to work like a well-oiled machine."Winter on Fire" is not only about the power of ordinary people to mobilize and effect extraordinary societal change. It's also about people believing in a power they don't even recognize they possess until something awakens it. It could be someone touching a hand to start a human chain. It could be sparked by music, performed by professionals and amateurs alike on the square. It could be hearing and joining in singing of the national anthem. It could be witnessing something so shocking to the conscience, human instinct takes over. In all of these cases, as the film demonstrates, the instincts that emerged in Kyiv, even under crisis conditions, brought people together rather than divide them.Things could easily have gone very differently. For most of those 93 days, the atmosphere was almost like that of a festival. But as the riot police began beating people indiscriminately, Maidan's numbers only grew, as did Maidan's spirit. "Winter on Fire" puts that spirit on full display. And it is that powerful blend of unity, diversity, purpose, determination, ingenuity, resourcefulness, courage, and dignity that over the course of 93 days forged a new identity for Ukrainian citizens and Ukraine as a new European nation.Although the director didn't set out with an agenda, he recognizes that his film also counters various myths and propaganda about what really happened on Maidan, without sugar-coating the violent last days. EuroMaidan was no uprising by violent extremists who staged a coup d'etat, as some have tried to portray it. To the contrary, "Winter on Fire" shows that Maidan was an amazing expression of collective humanity at its highest levels, people uniting in a universal desire for a voice, for a government that's accountable, for a society that's fair and decent, for a future of dignity for your children.The universal theme in Afineevsky's "Winter on Fire" is what makes a film about Ukraine's fight for freedom important for Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians alike. At a time when cynical American and European politicians exploit people's fears and differences, it's easy to take our fundamental values for granted. Watching the truly remarkable Ukrainians in "Winter on Fire" reminds those of us in countries that have fought our battles for equality and dignity, that there is still much work to be done, that civil rights and democracy require constant work and struggle.