The
Sochi Winter Olympics was an ugly spectacle of shoulder shrugging and hand
wringing, as the IOC and western media tried to pretend Russia never passed its
“anti-gay propaganda law.” Russian military adventurism in Ukraine should make
the 2018 World Cup an even more awkward affair. However, in FIFA’s defense, the
caviar and swag were surely tremendous, so what matters a small trifle like
human rights?
Yet
thanks to Elena Klimova and her “Children 404” online forum and support network,
the kids Putin, the IOC, and FIFA wishes would simply disappear have a venue to
express themselves. Askold Kurov & Pavel Loparev document Klimova’s work and
the disenfranchised kids served by her efforts in Children 404 (trailer
here), which
screens tomorrow in New York as part of the Eye on World Issues film series.
Essentially,
Klimova inherited the 404 name inspired by internet error messages from a
sympathetic media report on LGBT teens suffering from a drastic escalation of harassment
following passage of Putin’s “propaganda” ban. While The Guardian might parse the language of the bill and decide it isn’t
so bad after all, teens like Pasha paint a very different picture. As he
unequivocally testifies, his peers made it very clear—if he embraced his
sexuality to any extent, they would consider it illegal and subject to
schoolyard punishment. When reporting their threats to school administrators,
he was essentially told it was his fault for being so prejudiced against
homophobes.
404 is often a
jarring film, but it operates almost exclusively on the micro level, focusing
solely on the bullied kids and never offering any macro analysis. Rarely do the
filmmakers even confront the abuse abetting teachers and counselors, let alone
the government officials who passed and enforce the law—something that is admittedly
much easier to say than do. Nevertheless, it is a timely and defiant film that
fully captures the casual homophobia (and Communist nostalgia) that Putin
shamelessly panders to. They also caught some extraordinarily telling moments,
such as Pasha’s subversive visit to the Lenin museum (which certainly appears
to be promoting President-for-Life Putin).
