After
being kidnapped from Ukraine and illegally imprisoned in Russia, Oleg Sentsov
was just sentenced to twenty years, even after his accusers in Putin’s kangaroo
court recanted their testimony. Sentsov is famous, so just think what is
happening to the less well-known Ukrainian civic leaders rounded-up
Gestapo-style by Russia. Pavel Yurov does not have to imagine. The Euromaidan-supporting
playwright was tortured and imprisoned by Russian-backed separatists for
seventy days. Yurov is one of many young Ukrainians who tell their stories in
Andrew Tkach’s Generation Maidan: a Year
of Revolution and War (trailer here), produced in conjunction with the Ukrainian
Babylon’13 filmmaking cooperative, which screens during the 2015 Portland Film Festival.
In
late 2013, Ukrainians of all walks of life finally tired of the corrupt Yanukovych
regime when the elected autocrat pulled out of negotiations with the EU to
curry favor with his Russian patrons. Initially, a small group of protestors
gathered in Maidan Square, but the outrage caused Yanukovych’s harsh response
would ultimately attract hundreds of thousands of peaceful protestors. This
process would repeat. Tragically, Yanukovych would use every dirty trick in the
book against the movement, before settling on undisguised brute force.
There
is no question the Maidan protests were a confusing time, but Tkach does an
excellent job of establishing the historical timeline, step by step, while also
capturing a visceral sense of what it was like to be under fire from Yanukovych’s
notorious riot police, the Berkut. Some footage is absolutely jaw-dropping,
such as the incident in which a genuine Maidan protestor placed himself between
the armored Berkut line and a gang a balaclava donning agent provocateurs, “attacking”
the police to provide them a phony justification for a full scale crack-down.
Sadly,
the Western media has been too prone to accept these crude manipulations peddled
by the Russian state media, but such video helps set the record straight.
Unfortunately, the subsequent war precipitated by Russia and its separatist
clients constitute even murkier waters for media, due to the nature of civil
wars. However, anyone should be able to understand the implications of Yurov’s
harrowing experiences.
Like
Dmitriy Khavin’s Quiet in Odessa, Generation Maidan constitutes real
reporting from Ukraine at a time when it is in short supply. It also captures the
spirit of the Maidan movement, on personal, cultural, and generational levels.
Perhaps the character of Maidan is best represented by Alexandra Morozova, who
tirelessly played piano to raise the morale of Maidan activists. Fittingly, her
music also serves as the film’s soundtrack, giving it a great deal more class
than your typical battlefield dispatches.
