Search - Orange Winter on DVD

An intense emotional essay

Igor Afanasyev | Ukraine-USA | 02/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Documentaries do not often push genre envelope. And for obvious reasons: documentary is first and foremost a document. Zagdansky's Orange Winter transcends the boundaries of a political reportage-chronicle of the fight between two presidential candidates, Victor Yushchenko and Victor Yanukovich, or for that matter between the West and East of Ukraine in 2004.
The director describes the days and hours of the Orange Revolution, intertwining striking shots of hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Kiev with choir scenes in Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, the infamous tsar-murderer on stage with modern Ukrainian politicians.

Another "discovery": excerpts from Alexander Dovzhenko's silent masterpiece Earth elevate captured events into a different space-time continuum, into Eternity.

Orange Winter is an intense emotional essay on People and Power, and it leaves you with a tragic sense of the everlasting conflict between the people and the state. It is sad and yet uplifting, as real art must be.

Igor Afanasyev
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Beyond just a political reportage

Thomas M. Shelley | 04/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ukraine's 2010 election concludes once and for all the era ushered in by the Orange Revolution. Victor Yushchenko has been swept aside receiving a paltry 5.5 percent. In what can only be surmised as a spiteful last move Yushenko declared the infamous and controversial Stepan Bendera a Hero of Ukraine.
(...)

A political tactic akin to the retreating Roman army's poisoning of wells. Yushenko's former fiery ally, turned bitter enemy, Yulia Tymoshenko conceded defeat. The semi-literate ex-convict Victor Yanukovich, who's fraudulent initial victory in 2004 set of the Orange Revolution, has secured the presidency in what is widely reported as a fair and balanced election. This turn of political fortunes is however more farce than irony. In light of these events Orange Winter seems all the more prophetic, viewing the historic events of 2004 with a cool eye. The film possesses an seemingly preternatural sense for the disparity between the brave actions of a desperate people pushed to the limit of tolerance and the usurper-politicians staging their power plays on this backdrop.

Orange Winter is no mere documentary, rather a meditation on the fate of a nation with a rich commentary on the theater of politics and power. A film who's sad relevance has only grown with time. Highly recommended if you are looking beyond just a political reportage.


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