Very good indeed. Many Westerners see Russia and Russians as just a poorer Western Europe. A smart democratic people. Westerners seem totally unable to understand the extreme nationalism and dictatorial thinking the common Russian poses. In polls Russians are often very pro war, pro Putin, want to expand Russia, want to attack and annex other countries. This doc is a great intro to the modern Russian for the clueless democratic Westerner. We see how Russian culture works and see how many are still living in the past.
The version I watched was a 55 minute version on DW Documentary, for free on Youtube, so I don't know if that's the only version out there. But the message is that Putin has recreated the autocratic system from USSR, that Russians long for, and has started a lot of wars and conflicts in countries all around Russia. He annexed Crimea and most Russians love this. They talk about how Russians and Putin want to annex and conquer old USSR republics and how many people in those republics want the peaceful time it will bring to belong to a nuclear nation. Russia won't start any wars in your country anymore if you are part of Russia and no one will ever attack you as you are protected by nuclear bombs. This doc was made just before Putin invaded Ukraine. Just before we saw the huge bloodshed and civilians getting shot by the Russian army just so Putin could invade Ukrainian villages. It's also before the war sanctions and before the extreme dictatorial laws Putin signed post the war. Something I'm not allowed to go into in an IMDB review unfortunately so I can't really tell you exactly what the doc is missing. But it's not really critical or direct enough. It proposes that Putin may invade areas or start some war somewhere. But it doesn't expect or predict a gigantic disaster in the middle of Europe with thousands of dead civilians as we are seeing now.
The doc is basically a perfect intro to Russia right before the war. It's overly kind and uncritical, but often Western Europeans want to see the best in people so it's an understandable bias. Putin is kinda just presented as some meager dictator. Now of course a totally new side and more evil side of Russia and Putin is revealed to the West and I imagine the documentary makers being shocked by how much cruelty they overlooked. Russians are not against the war as the rest of Europe. They are still the people you see in this documentary. Proud of their military history and see themselves as a great nation rebuilding its past glory. For Russians history is everything. USSR is everything.
The version I watched was a 55 minute version on DW Documentary, for free on Youtube, so I don't know if that's the only version out there. But the message is that Putin has recreated the autocratic system from USSR, that Russians long for, and has started a lot of wars and conflicts in countries all around Russia. He annexed Crimea and most Russians love this. They talk about how Russians and Putin want to annex and conquer old USSR republics and how many people in those republics want the peaceful time it will bring to belong to a nuclear nation. Russia won't start any wars in your country anymore if you are part of Russia and no one will ever attack you as you are protected by nuclear bombs. This doc was made just before Putin invaded Ukraine. Just before we saw the huge bloodshed and civilians getting shot by the Russian army just so Putin could invade Ukrainian villages. It's also before the war sanctions and before the extreme dictatorial laws Putin signed post the war. Something I'm not allowed to go into in an IMDB review unfortunately so I can't really tell you exactly what the doc is missing. But it's not really critical or direct enough. It proposes that Putin may invade areas or start some war somewhere. But it doesn't expect or predict a gigantic disaster in the middle of Europe with thousands of dead civilians as we are seeing now.
The doc is basically a perfect intro to Russia right before the war. It's overly kind and uncritical, but often Western Europeans want to see the best in people so it's an understandable bias. Putin is kinda just presented as some meager dictator. Now of course a totally new side and more evil side of Russia and Putin is revealed to the West and I imagine the documentary makers being shocked by how much cruelty they overlooked. Russians are not against the war as the rest of Europe. They are still the people you see in this documentary. Proud of their military history and see themselves as a great nation rebuilding its past glory. For Russians history is everything. USSR is everything.