My Perestroika

A documentary about the ordinary lives of Rusians.

This profile of the last generation to grow up in the Soviet Union lends a personal dimension to geopolitics. As they chain-smoke and stare pensively out of windows, five former classmates, now in their 30s, share stories from their days as Communist youth, when the cracks in the regime were starting to show, to their adolescent euphoria during the Soviet Union’s fall, to their frequent disillusionment in contemporary Russia. Some prospered under the new freedoms, while others feel nostalgic for old ways. The documentary’s priceless archival footage and propagandistic children’s songs of the past seem to weave an alternate universe. (U.S./U.K./Russia, 88 min.) 3 out of 4 stars