Movies Reviews

My Perestroika – Movie Review

By Ron Wilkinson May 12, 2011, 0:44 GMT

\'My Perestroika\' tells the story of five people from the last generation of Soviet children who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain... ...more

Russia over the last thirty years as lived by the political upheaval generation.

New director Robin Hessman shows remarkable ingenuity and intelligence in this finely crafted mini budget documentary about a side of life Americans can only imagine. “My Perestroika” racked up a Sundance nomination for Grand Jury Prize in 2010 and Hessman is just the kind of filmmaker who could take that prize home next time.

The film tells the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain in the height of the cold war. Born in the 1960s the five lived uniform lives, as one would expect. They were heartily encouraged to join various communist political groups, culminating with the Pioneers in the late 1970s.

The first amazing revelation about this film is that these people are not Lenin-drenched socialists who live and breathe the word of the Soviet manifesto. They look back on this part of their history in about the same way that most Americans look back on the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and varsity sports.

They enjoyed the experiences because they belonged and they felt a part of something. Now that they are older, they see their belonging was a bit of an illusion but no more so that, for example, mature Americans might view an upbringing in a fervent religious environment.

In 1982 Leonid Brezhnev died after eighteen years of uninterrupted rule and newly elected Ronald Reagan smelled blood. With a little help from their friends, the Russian ruling elite, nominally headed by Mikhail Gorbachev, declared “Perestroika.”

Literally translated as “restructuring,” Perestroika would open the doors to twenty years of chaos and thievery that would see the most radical divvying up of wealth in modern history. The weak were isolated, starved and threatened and the strong took over the public wealth of the nation.

By the time the five subjects of this film were forty years old their political-economic surroundings had changed more than America’s had changed since the birth of the nation in 1776. The film is a fascinating look at the history of Russia during that period---it is an even more fascinating study of the ability of the human species to adapt.

Borya and Lyuba are history teachers in Moscow’s School #57. Borya grew up in an intellectual family and was relatively well prepared to flow with the changes to come. Lyuba was a self-described conformist who even saluted when the national anthem was played on TV.

They have a son and are like an average American family. Family, house, food and education come first. The political system is like sleeping next to an elephant. Everything can be dealt with unless it moves too fast.

Ruslan is Borya’s childhood best friend who started a punk-rock band in 1988 in the middle of the Perestroika movement. The political turmoil was better for him and his band than the Viet Nam war was for Phil Ochs. Practicing was more fun when you were bad in doing it. Music is not as much fun now; Ruslan has dropped out and plays mostly in subways.

Olga is a single mom who lives with her sister, nephew and son in the same modest neighborhood as Borya and Lyuba. Olga was happily married to a successful banker who divorced her and was murdered soon after. As it turns out, death was an unplanned consequence of many of the optimistic plans of the new business elite.

Andrea is a successful businessman selling French shirts. He has just opened his 17th store and plans to expand to America. His son studies in France and his family lives in an exclusive development of luxury condominiums.

Through the eyes of these five people, Robin Hessman has built the best documentary around about contemporary life in Russia.

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Documentary
Directed by: Robin Hessman
Release Date: March 23, 2011
MPAA: Not Rated
Runtime: 87 minutes
Country: USA / UK / Russia
Language: Russian
Color: Color