Today, a lot of people are justly concerned
about Russian interference in the 2016 election, but they do not seem
particularly interested about anything that came before. Where were they in 2014
and 2015? Had the America and the West responded to the Russian invasion of
Ukraine more forcefully, the world might look like a very different place
today. Hopefully, it is not too late for Ukraine, if we finally rally to the
embattled democracy. Viewers will get a field report on the state of the
Ukrainian state and a step-by-step chronicle laying out how we reached this
point in Mark Jonathan Harris & Oles Sanin’s invaluable Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine
(trailer
here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Democracy is a fragile thing. Ukraine won it
during the Orange Revolution, only to lose it again due to the new government’s
incompetence. Putin’s loyal puppet Viktor Yanukovych was duly elected president
in 2010, even though everyone knew he tried to steal the election in 2004.
However, that did not mean he could ignore the will of the people. When he
refused to sign a trade treaty with the EU, at Moscow’s bidding, the people took
to the streets. When he used violence against peaceful protesters, he lost any remaining
claims to legitimacy.
That is exactly what the Maidan movement
was about. Russian propaganda suggested otherwise, causing doubt in the Western
media. In contrast, Harris and Sanin reveal the true nature of Maidan through
their primary POV figures: Mustafa Nayyem, an Afghan-born journalist and
democracy activist; Tetiana Chornovol, an investigative journalist who was
badly beaten by Yanukovych’s thugs, Natan Hazin, a rabbi who became an officer in
the volunteer Ukrainian army; and Andriy “Bohema” Sharaskin, the director of a
children’s theater school, who defended the Donetsk Airport from Russian
invaders. Russia would have us believe they were anti-Semitic militants—and the
media bought their propaganda just enough to give it legs.
In fact, Harris (an Oscar winner for Into the Arms of Strangers and The Long Way Home), Sanin, and their
expert commentators spend a good deal of time analyzing Russian propaganda.
Especially galling is the actress who pops up at least three times pretending
to be a local who duly spouts the Kremlin’s party line. Again, if the media had
done their jobs properly in 2014-2015, maybe Putin would have been less
inclined to meddle in other nations affairs and perhaps they wouldn’t now have
to deal with Trump, who they so vociferously despise.
Sharaskin makes the point that it is far
more motivating to be for something good and noble than merely against unpalatable.
Despite Ukraine’s various setbacks, Breaking
Point vividly captures the idealism and resolution of the Maidan movement. Hope
is not dead in Ukraine, it is just getting shelled daily by Russia. Watching this
documentary confirms the strategic significance of Ukraine as a line in the
sand. If it falls, it would be a decisive loss for constitutional democracy and
a major victory for Soviet-style kleptocracy. Somehow, Breaking Point is both inspiring and disheartening in equal
measure, but it should be required viewing for anyone who cares about the
future state of the world. Very highly recommended, Breaking Point opens this Friday (3/2) in New York, at the Cinema
Village.