ving followed the events at the time, I can honestly say, “Winter on Fire” manages to capture the remarkably inspiring and idealistic spirit exhibited over those many days by the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians that filled central Kyiv’s Maidan. Everyone was there. People from all walks of life came to Maidan, from different cities and regions and even beyond Ukraine’s borders. Young, old, soldiers, teachers, hipsters, engineers, doctors, professionals. Even runaways, like the streetwise 12-year old boy who seemed to grow up before our eyes on the barricades. There were Russian speakers and Ukrainian speakers. Muslims, Christians and Jews worked together. People set up kitchens so no one was hungry. There were tents dedicated to media and charging cell phones and technical equipment. Concerts, speakers, poets, politicians came to the stage in an orderly manner. Schedules were posted of events daily. Everything seemed to work like a well-oiled machine.
“Winter on Fire” is not only about the power of ordinary people to mobilize and effect extraordinary societal change. It’s also about a people's internal journey, coming to believe in a power they don’t even recognize they possess until something awakens it. It could be someone touching a hand to start a human chain. It could be sparked by music, performed by professionals and amateurs alike on the square. It could be hearing and joining in singing of the national anthem. It could be witnessing something so shocking to the conscience, human instinct takes over. In all of these cases, as the film demonstrates, the instincts that emerged on Maidan, even under crisis conditions, brought people together rather than divide them.
Things could easily have gone very differently. For most of those 93 days, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive, like being at a festival. But as the riot police began beating people indiscriminately, Maidan’s numbers only grew as did Maidan’s spirit. “Winter on Fire” puts that spirit on full display. And it is that powerful blend of unity, diversity, purpose, determination, fairness, ingenuity, resourcefulness, courage, and dignity that over the course of 93 days forged a new identity for Ukrainian citizens and Ukraine as a new European nation.
“Winter on Fire” is in some ways an uncharacteristic film for our time. We live in a time where revolutions fail and revolutionaries get beheaded. This is precisely why this film is important. During less than optimistic times, “Winter on Fire” brings hope to struggles for freedom and democracy throughout the world. It is a very real and hopeful story, one with much raw pain, yes, but hopeful nonetheless.
I had a chance to meet Evgeny Afineevsky at a screening of “Winter on Fire” in Los Angeles this week during the presentation of the Mirror of the Freedom Award. He spoke of his approach as apolitical, of being a filmmaker and a documentarian of history whose aim was to tell a human story, the story of “93 days that changed the world.” Afineevsky also admitted to me that he’s regrettably lost some friends in Russia for his on screen testament to the events as they happened in Ukraine.
Read more: “Winter on Fire” director given “Mirror of the Freedom Award”
Read more: Russian-born director risking his life to deliver Oscar worthy documentaryUkraine is fighting for the same fundamental values of civil societies in democracies like ours. The Mirror of Freedom Award presented to Afineevsky explicitly recognizes the undeniable link between Ukraine's revolution and America's own founding in its dedication: “'Winter on Fire' inspir[es] Americans to think about our own significance regarding what freedom really means. In a sense, the heroes of the Maidan in Ukraine can be seen as the ‘living hearts’ of the American Founding Fathers, an embodiment of our American values.” The universal theme in Afineevsky’s "Winter on Fire” is what makes Ukraine’s fight for freedom important for Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians alike. At a time when cynical American and European politicians exploit people’s fears and differences, it’s easy to take our values for granted. Watching the remarkable Ukrainians in “Winter on Fire” reminds those of us in countries that have fought our battles for equality and dignity, that there is still much work to be done, that civil rights and democracy require constant effort and struggle. Afineevsky reminds us that we cannot be complacent, and that even mature democracies have much to learn from the struggle of a far away and little-known country. "Winter on Fire" shows us that by focusing on our best values, as the people of Ukraine did on Maidan, success on seemingly intractable fronts can be within our reach too.
