The Red Soul
Russia & Ukraine
•
1h 32m
Directed by Jessica Gorter • Documentary • 2017 • 90 minutes
The Red Soul lays bare the Russian psyche of today and shows a world full of contradictions. In a country where hardly any family escaped the hunger, fear and violence resulting from Stalin’s reign of terror, no one has ever been convicted for the crimes committed under his regime. Even now, more than 50 years after Stalin’s death, Russians remain deeply divided over how to deal with the memories of this painful past.
In a mosaic of intimate portraits, ordinary Russians—both young and old—speak openly about their traumas, rooted in a violent history. Tales of pain alternate with tales of pride. Nostalgic stories of a state flourishing under the Communist ideal contrast with painful memories of hunger, violence and betrayal. Not infrequently, these conflicting views can be found in one and the same person. Gradually, this intriguing film exposes how the Soviet past lives on in current generations, and thus makes its mark on the future.
"A striking documentary that avoids moralizing and easy answers." —Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg, Harvard University
Up Next in Russia & Ukraine
-
Sleeping Souls
Directed by Alexander Abaturov • Documentary • 2013 • 50 minutes
Atchinsk is a Siberian town 2500 miles away from Moscow where Soviet dissidents and, before them, the Tsar's opponents were deported. It's pre-election season, and the small, sleepy town is abuzz with the voices of regime supporter...
-
The Son (inside the Russian army)
Directed by Alexander Abaturov • Documentary • 2022 • 70 minutes
In 2013, filmmaker Alexander Abaturov cousin Dima Ilukhin was killed during a Russian Special Forces (Spetsnaz) operation in the Republic of Dagestan. He was 21. The fighter who shot him in the head and was himself subsequently kil...
-
La Supplication (Voices from Chernobyl)
Directed by Pol Cruchten • Documentary • 2017 • 86 minutes
Based on the novel by Svetlana Alexievich, recipient of a Nobel Prize in Literature, La Supplication (Voices from Chernobyl) does not deal with Chernobyl, but rather with the world of Chernobyl, about which we know very little. Eyewitnes...
