With the conflict unfolding in Ukraine over the past several weeks and months now coming to a head, the world has been waiting in tense anticipation for the potential outbreak of war in Europe. As Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened, postured and rattled his saber over Ukraine’s sovereignty, particularly the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine that he has declared Russian territory, many may be wondering what’s motivating the implacable, impenetrable former KGB agent and FSB head Putin. Helpfully, there are ways to learn more about the recent history of Putin and Ukraine through a variety of documentaries available to stream.
Start with the 2018 documentary “Active Measures,” directed by Jack Bryan. The main focus of this rapid-fire info-packed film is Putin’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the cultivation of Donald Trump and the Trump family and associates as Russian assets, particularly through real estate money laundering for Russian organized crime. However, the first half of the documentary offers a primer on Putin’s tactics interfering in elections in Ukraine and Georgia, and the subsequent protest movements rejecting Putin’s influence, especially in Ukraine. The film also explains the significance of Ukraine specifically to Putin, and the devastation he feels over the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which has led to his aggressive actions in former Soviet states. Stream the film for free (with a library card) on Kanopy, or rent it on any digital platform.
Director Steve York’s 2007 documentary “Orange Revolution” is available to stream for free in its entirety on YouTube, and details the 2004 presidential election in Ukraine, in which Putin crony and former Donetsk governor, Viktor Yanukovych, faced off with the more liberal Viktor Yushchenko and his ally, Yulia Tymoshenko. Yushchenko was famously poisoned in an assassination attempt that took him off the campaign trail, and after Yanukovych was deemed the winner of a rigged election, Ukrainians took to the streets for 17 straight days in protest, ultimately overturning the results and installing Yushchenko as president. Watch the whole thing unfold in “Orange Revolution” on YouTube.
Yanukovych later became president, succeeding Yushchenko in 2010 and defeating Prime Minister Tymoshenko in the election. In 2013, Yanukovych's decision to ally with Russia and reject a European Union association agreement sparked yet another revolution in Ukraine, the bloody, monthslong protest movement and occupation of the central square in Kyiv, known as the “Euromaidan.” Though Yanukovych used violent suppressive tactics, including sniper shooters, to target the protesters, he was ultimately removed by parliament and fled to Russia, where he remains in exile.
This revolution was captured in stunning detail in the 2014 documentary “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, streaming on Netflix. Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa also made an immersive documentary about the revolution, “Maidan,” which is streaming on Kanopy or available for rent on other digital platforms. Loznitsa, who makes both documentary and narrative films, also directed a bleak satire in 2018 about the war in eastern Ukraine that’s been raging since 2014, titled “Donbass,” looking at the ways in which the war is manipulated for media propaganda. While it was Ukraine’s Oscar entry that year, it is unfortunately not available to stream.
Another one to keep an eye out for is the 2022 Sundance winning documentary, “Navalny,” about the Russian opposition candidate and Putin pest Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned by FSB agents and later imprisoned upon returning to Russia, perhaps sparked by revealing Putin’s corruption on his wildly popular YouTube channel. This revealing documentary directed by Daniel Roher features a long interview with Navalny before his imprisonment, and details his hunt to find out who poisoned him. The film will be released on CNN and HBO Max later this year. Two other Ukrainian films won awards at Sundance this year, the documentary “A House Made of Splinters,” about an orphanage in eastern Ukraine, and the drama “Klondike,” set during the period of time in 2014 when Russian separatists shot down the Malaysia Airlines flight. Hopefully those films receive U.S. distribution soon.
Finally, a narrative feature set in eastern Ukraine that takes a fictional look at some of the realities of life during wartime there. Last year’s Ukrainian Oscar entry was “Atlantis,” directed Valentyn Vasyanovych, a dystopian wartime drama set in a near future, where a factory worker joins a team recovering bodies from a recent war. This mesmerizing film requires, and rewards, a patient viewing. Stream it on Fandor or rent it on iTunes.
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