User Reviews

My Perestroika is a very strong documentary because Robin Hessman really connected with her characters. Characters drive the story, and by immersing herself in their world she was able to fully portray their feelings before, during and after the Russian revolution of the 1990's.

My favorite part of the film is that it starts and ends with the first day of school in Moscow. The cyclical nature of this speaks volumes to the struggles in Russia and the nature of life itself. Problems do not simply disappear, their whispers remain in society.

I was lucky enough to hear Hessman speak about her film, and she went out of her way to say that Moscow, like New York, cannot represent Russia as a whole. This is a very key point that, if misinterpreted, can change the way you look at the film entirely.

I was lucky enough to see "My Perestroika" at NYC's IFC Center, where director Robin Hessman answered questions following a screening of her film. She stressed that her documentary isn't so much representative of all Russians, but rather a cross-section of "ordinary Russians living in extra-ordinary times." Hessman focused her lens on five childhood classmates who entered school in communist Moscow but came of age during the fall of the Iron Curtain. She had incredible access to her five subjects: punk rocker Ruslan, single mom Olga, successful businessman Andrei, and married history teachers Borya and Lubya. By shooting solo (instead of relying on a cameraman), Hessman was able to develop a rapport with her subjects, prompting them to open up. Although they seemed nostalgic about their idyllic childhood, they also appeared to wish to leave it in the past. By the end, they all seemed nonchalant about the current government. The film's strength lies in its use of the subjects' own 8mm home movies (juxtaposed alongside vintage propaganda films). This film could easily have been constructed with talking heads waxing poetic about the fall of the USSR, but it wouldn't have been as compelling. By focusing on (relatable) characters, Hessman puts a face on the (last generation of the) Cold War, which until now had been a nebulous concept for me.

By the end, I wanted to down vodka shots with Ruslan and Borya! My only gripe is that I wanted to see more interaction among the five childhood classmates. Olga lived around the corner from Borya and Lubya, but we never see them interact. We know Borya and Lubya still keep contact with Ruslan, but do any of them still keep in touch with Andrei and Olga? I suppose that is another strength of Hessman's storytelling...that she painted these protagonists in such a way that I wanted to know more about them. May I suggest a follow-up documentary?

This propaganda brought to you by the big three corporate charities: Ford, Hewlitt and MacArthur Foundations. All three can easily be suspected of being CIA fronts, but there is solid evidence that the Ford Foundation has served as a front and a means of funneling money from the CIA to fund psychological warfare to sell the American brand to the world as well as to demonize socialism, communism and third-world liberation movements. They promote pro-capitalist and pro-bourgeois "values." One of the individuals followed in the documentary, a teacher, refers to Lenin as "basically a cannibal" and all of the interviewees are really down on their country - both as the Soviet Union and Russia today. At least 4 out of the 5 individuals express explicitly anti-Putin views; not a good sample of the Russian population given that Mr. Putin's approval rating in Russia is something like 87% as of this writing.

The documentary even tries to whitewash the abominable actions of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the first a naive idiot and the second a scoundrel and a criminal who privatized everything in sight, usurped power in the name of "democracy" and destroyed the country. On the other hand, Putin is hated by the U.S. today because he has made Russia a great power again.

As an American citizen, I watched this hoping to see some old footage of Soviet times and maybe hear at least one favorable account of life in the USSR, but I was to be very disappointed. I have read other accounts of people who grew up under communism and while some heap criticism on it, others remember the good outweighing the bad. They say that although the communist party leadership kept a firm hold over the society, things like the absence of crime, guaranteed housing, free healthcare and education and even subsidized transportation and cultural activities were not something to just scoff at.

My Perestroika is a film that documents the lives of five people from the USSR to modern day Russia. Hessman takes us through a time span of over two years through the personal lives and experiences of these characters. Hessman shows the lives of a single mom (Olga), a musician (Ruslan), two married History teachers (Borya and Lybia) and a businessman (Andrei), all ordinary people living through an extraordinary time. They move from the innocence of childhood to the awareness of college and young adulthood to the challenges of adjusting to capitalistic Russia.

It's a powerful film because it's told through their eyes. A few characters use family footage to demonstrate their perspectives. Many lament on the nostalgia of communism and find difficulties living in an unfamiliar capitalistic society. They share their opinions of politics and politicians (especially Putin and the recent election); ironically they all have a common opinion about politics in post-modern Russia.

They give their views of a childhood in USSR, their feelings about parenthood and give their predictions for the future of society. The audience can see a unique juxtaposition of traditional and modern, old and new as the last generation in USSR and first generation in capitalistic Russia seem to struggle to balance conflicting ideologies. Their children will grow up only knowing the impact of the west and Hessman clearly demonstrates this documenting Lybia and Borya's son listening to his ipod and watching American movies.

The black and white footage has a particularly special impact that brings a unique realism and validation to the film. Hessman seeks to shatter the American myth of soviet Russia, that the world there was a horrible place until the west intervened. Most of the characters (except the businessman) in the film share the opposite opinion. Andrei looks at capitalism from the perspective of many in the west because he has benefited from it. In reality, they realize that both communism and capitalism have its positive and negative impacts.

The film begins as it ends, with the first day of school. This monumental and unforgettable experience creates a strong connection between the audience and characters. We all remember our first day of school. The beginning of an era that encompasses our childhood and has a significant impact on our lives. It is the one thread that all of the characters share, classmates and childhood friends that reflect on their childhood and its memories, 20 years later.