Before moving to this part of the world and even long before even assuming I'd end up here, I found myself finally going through the films of the Soviet Union, watching new and old titles. Sometimes I'd find some documentaries that seemed interesting, though those tend to be a little harder to find. Lately I'm really craving documentaries again, it has been a while since I watched any, and I have to say that I have really missed the fun world of documentary storytelling that gives us context on history and culture while taking us through environments that may seem so distant and new to us. A while back I watched a documentary called 'Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone', a bit of an odd title and one that certainly seems a little like clickbait, to no surprise with the words "trauma" and "zone". This was a documentary by filmmaker Adam Curtis, one that tends to find stock footage from the era he's portraying, sometimes giving context through his own narration, sometimes just letting the footage tell the story throughout the years alongside bits of text that establish the setting and period, as well as political events that unfolded within them. I really enjoyed this documentary given it gave a true look at the collapse of the USSR, showing the corruption of the region, as well as the painfully poor attempt to bring in democracy and capitalism to a region that had never seen that before, nor had any understanding of how to go about living in that environment. I mean, really, who gives out shares in industry to people that can't even afford food and have no idea as to what investing or shares even are?
I find it fascinating to learn more about this part of the world I'm now in, looking at it from a more personal perspective as I can see the outcome of those past events now in the present. The collapse of industry and the mentality many face. As well as being free from the clear propaganda that was given to us in the west regarding what the Soviet Union was, how it operated, and the idea that the whole thing was something we should fear, even down to the level of citizens. A bit dumb once we realise that many of the citizens just wanted to live regular lives, and did precisely that without a care or thought in the world for what happens outside of their locations. The Cold War led to both sides throwing out a lot of lies and not really educating each other over what life is like in these respective nations. So this isn't to defend either, not to claim either of them have ever been good, but merely gaining more of an exploration into the side of life that wasn't shown to us. The culture and traditions which remained hidden from the Iron Curtain. Hidden from the school system which taught us only of the actions of the government, and not the people. I'm interested in personal stories, the lifestyles of those we don't know. Their struggles and interests which shape them. There's always something to learn from another person, and that's something I think we often forget as we all get caught up in the complexities of modern life, as well as aforementioned state level propaganda that seeks to ensure the argument of 'we have always been at war with X' remains. The argument that war is good for us, and we need an enemy that we hate while knowing nothing about them in the first place.
This led to me finding and checking out My Perestroika, a seemingly similar concept to the aforementioned documentary from Adam Curtis.
My Perestroika
The documentary starts off with the average family, a few people that had grown up during the Soviet Union, we saw their perspectives as children throughout the Union. The ways in which the society was formed and the ways in which life was. Most of them tend to speak of how things were actually good, how they have great nostalgia for that time. They make the connection to their present, about the early 2000s, as things have since changed dramatically. There's the realisation of things now are, their adult lives, being either of a capitalist form of success or considered far behind and lacking in comparison to the average person. We see a lot of dialogue from these people, their thoughts on their lives and the moments of the past. They tell us of how their school days were, how they were clearly given propaganda to make them feel part of something great. The realisation as adults that much of this was social conditioning to ensure the youth maintained the interests of the Soviets. They speak of these times with nostalgia still, mentioning how while it was clear what was going on, things did seem more enjoyable then, easier for people and with a clearer structure to life. It makes sense when jobs were decided for you, homes given to you, and a more positive outlook on life pretty much enforced into your brain from the young age, all while seeing the news of the capitalist west as something negative: shootings, poverty, and the greed as they sell themselves out for profit. At the same time these people make it clear that nobody really cared about the US, they had the news telling them certain things, but ultimately they just went by their own lives and enjoyed things.
It's interesting to see how these people now lived, as adults with certain careers that were not possible back then. As well as the awareness that things were starting to collapse even in their youth, seeing certain changes and illogical moves that just made no sense. The clear attempts to hold the narrative that things were fine even though they were not. It shows a political climate that is fragile, though incredibly secretive. Followed by the inevitable collapse and the changes that followed. Imagine a lifetime of knowing nothing but the simplicity of having things handed to you, followed by an introduction of the total opposite. Now you must pay for things. All the music you'd once be punished for having is now acceptable. The introduction of the capitalist mentality now adding a bit of craziness into the people as they now have no idea how to act, under the assumption of what democracy and freedom is, under the pursuit of spiritual awakening. I liked that the footage shows these moments alongside the narration from people, them detailing the changes and how nobody really understood what was happening. Now people danced and sold things in the street, while the American influence was now celebrated. Little was done about it, even as the shops began to run dry of products to sell. And people couldn't afford them anyway.
I think what makes this documentary so interesting is that it comes at a time where this sort of commentary was still accepted. A brief moment of general democracy within the nation of Russia, albeit with the stones already set in place for Putin and his friends to begin the more totalitarian pursuits that ensured their power and profit for generations to come, as harsher rules, of similar direction to the Soviet Union were to be implemented. Again control over the news, the opinions people publicly shared. In one piece of footage we see a student stating they still don't know how to comment on political situations, for they still aren't entirely aware of how to form such opinions in the first place. Incapable of knowing what is best for everyone, having lived under the rule in which the government chose such things for you. But he's aware that things may likely get worse from that point on, aware that this also means the introduction of independence, that the couldn't rely on the government going forward, and that he'd have to now attempt to learn and understand how to live for himself. Quite a challenging perspective to have for someone so young, now seeing such significant changes. And with the introduction of for-profit agenda, comes the decline of the established way. The pride in locations that upheld their cleanliness, the enforcement of certain mentalities that certainly resulted in better care in certain industries. I find it fascinating how it must've been for people to have their entire idea of life totally flipped within a few short years.
People now begged on the streets for spare changed. Billboards now tower above their beloved Soviet and historical architecture. American products were now of interest. There's something deeply depressing about the sudden introduction to this chaotic modern ideology, and I can't help but feel the same sadness. Not to defend the communist ideology, but to hold understanding that an environment void of such things now riddled with the profit agenda isn't exactly healthy and nice. No different to how McDonald's has a franchise by the Sphinx in Egypt. The depressing degradation of society in this manner, as the pride in culture and tradition is replaced with the need for growth and mass consumption. This is a powerful documentary for this, showing the changes throughout the years, the lives and stock footage of people, and how everything turned upside-down. It comes as no surprise that many Russians still believe the present is horrible, and that nothing has improved in the last thirty years. I know one thing though, I wish I could get given a house for free.
A lot of these sudden changes speak of a lost set of generations too, the ones incapable of adapting, the ones that just don't understand how a person's mentality can shift so quickly. In a way the poor of Russia's present an outcome of being incapable of changing to the capitalist mentality of Russia now. Quite a tragedy, really.
