Winter on Fire inspires, and generates support and empathy for Ukraine (Film review)

A 2015 documentary film that's back in the news

 

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (Ukraine-U.K.-U.S.A., 2015)

- Evgeny Afineevsk, director, producer and cinematographer 

 

As a gesture of support for Ukraine in the wake of it being invaded by Russia on February 24th, Netflix has made a 98-minute-length documentary which provides much needed background information to what's currently happening in the country free to view on Youtube.  Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a film that I'd bet is unfamiliar to many people in the world.  However, it's one that well known to Hong Kongers -- not because it won the People's Choice Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival or was nominated for the Best Documentary, Feature Oscar in 2016 but because many free screenings were mounted of it here in the latter part of 2019 and it served to inspire many pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong who viewed it.   

 

As it so happens, I never did catch a screening of the film back in 2019 and only just viewed Winter on Fire for the first time earlier today.  Still, I have to admit that I can't help but see this documentary about Ukranians out protesting on the streets of Kyiv through the eyes of someone who took part in street protests in Hong Kong in 2019, 2014 and many another year.  And I totally can understand why many Hong Kongers would feel a connection to Ukranians after watching the work as well as be inspired by what was initially an uprising -- whose protest camp in a central square brought to mind those in Tiananmen Square in 1989 for someone like me -- before turning into the full-fledge Maidan Revolution (or Revolution of Dignity) which took place in the winter of 2013-2014.

 

In November 2013, protests erupted in Ukraine after its then president, Viktor Yanukovych, opted against signing an accord with the European Union (that would have politically aligned Ukraine with "the West") and opt, instead, to have closer ties with Russia.  Initially, those who went and gathered at Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) numbered just a few thousand but the size of the protest crowd soon grew in size, with it becoming very apparent that a very large number of Ukranians wanted to be, as they chanted, "Europeans".

 

Like was the case in Hong Kong (in 2014 and 2019), the protestors were initially peaceful, with participants consisting of female and male, old and young (including a 12 year old prominently featured in Winter on Fire) and people from different walks of life (including professionals, trade unionists, students and retirees).  Something that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the film but also is visually apparent is that the protestors were multi-ethnic in nature: in that not all of them were stereotypically blonde haired and blue eyed and some of them actually looked like they were Roma (though it's also true that I didn't notice any Afro-Ukranians in the protest crowd or, for that matter, among the government forces sent in to quell the protest).

 

Also, sadly, as was the case in Hong Kong (especially in 2019), the protests soon turned violent though.  Or, rather (in both Hong Kong and Ukraine), the protestors were attacked by government forces and felt obliged to protect themselves and rescue others from violent fates at the hands of the government forces -- who, in Ukraine, fired live ammunitiion into the crowd as well as rubber bullets and tear gas, and also made use of stun grenades.  

 

One key way in which the Ukranian protest crowd differed from those in Hong Kong is that there were ex-military men in the midst.  It was interesting to hear a number of them talk in Winter on Fire, including about tactics and the kind of assistance they were able to specifically and generally render.  Another major way in which the Ukranian protests was different from the Hong Kong ones: a lot more lives were lost in public view, and directly as a result of the actions of government forces, in Kyiv.  (Should it not be obvious: the film contains some really disturbing footage, made even more upsetting to view because you know what you were watching was real on account of it being a documentary rather than a work of fiction)     

 

And then there's the most significant difference of all: the protestors in Ukraine succeeded in overthrowing the government -- with the unpopular president fleeing the country one morning.  In the post-script, the audience of Winter on Fire also is informed that the hated Berkut (the special police force that looks for Hong Kongers to be the Ukranian version of the riot police) was dissolved.  How many Hong Kongers would love for this to happen here but, sadly, have very little confidence that it ever will.

 

Regardless of whether I wear my Hong Konger hat while viewing this film or not, the following is for sure: Winter on Fire is a very good work: not only because it is thoroughly capable of getting the blood pumping but also because its narrative explains clearly what was shown happening.  In sum: it is a documentary that not only makes one understand why freedom from repression means so much to Ukranians but, also, gets one feeling it is only right to support their bids to remain politically independent.

 

My rating for this film: 9.0