Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a 2015 Netflix-produced documentary, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, which focuses on the ninety days of protests, referred to as the Euromaidan Protests, that spanned from November 2013 to February 2014, which eventually toppled the government of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. It was set off when this leader of the Eastern European country, a former Soviet Republic, refused to sign a trade agreement with the European Union, which the people wanted and which he had said he would sign, in order to pay favor to Russia and Vladimir Putin. The people see the cronyism and the corruption, and are determined to peacefully show their displeasure, in the streets, eventually numbering in the thousands. The government doesn't take kindly to this popular uprising, feeling threatened easily by public opposition (as autocratic regimes often do), and sets about to repress and squash their movement. The response from the people is, as has occurred with authoritarians doing similar oppression, is to not cower but step up harder and louder and grow their movement.
Putting the politics aside--though I don't think it should be in any way be considered a controversial statement that the government acted in a very bad way--this is a fantastic, disturbing, and beyond all a riveting documentary, including amazing footage placing you in the heart of these heart-stopping scenes and put together well. It shows very well how the movement started and how it grew. I think I even liked this better than another really strong Netflix doc about a similar kind of revolution in Egypt earlier in the decade, the award-winning The Square, though this is many ways is a slighter film. I believe the narrower focus, putting it on these specific protests and the governments overreaction, works to its benefit. Afineevsky received both Academy Award and Emmy nominations for the film, which on the one hand I find strange, because the two award shows are clearly in separate entertainment entities, and a work probably shouldn't be eligible for both; on the other hand, I can't say he wasn't deserving for both nomination (the same thing happened to the director of The Square Jehane Noujaim, won some Emmys for it). I highly recommend seeing this documentary.
Putting the politics aside--though I don't think it should be in any way be considered a controversial statement that the government acted in a very bad way--this is a fantastic, disturbing, and beyond all a riveting documentary, including amazing footage placing you in the heart of these heart-stopping scenes and put together well. It shows very well how the movement started and how it grew. I think I even liked this better than another really strong Netflix doc about a similar kind of revolution in Egypt earlier in the decade, the award-winning The Square, though this is many ways is a slighter film. I believe the narrower focus, putting it on these specific protests and the governments overreaction, works to its benefit. Afineevsky received both Academy Award and Emmy nominations for the film, which on the one hand I find strange, because the two award shows are clearly in separate entertainment entities, and a work probably shouldn't be eligible for both; on the other hand, I can't say he wasn't deserving for both nomination (the same thing happened to the director of The Square Jehane Noujaim, won some Emmys for it). I highly recommend seeing this documentary.