Inspired by the True incidents of the Ukrainian revolution during 2013 and 2014, when a group of students begin a peaceful movement that turns into a violent revolution that calls for the resignation of the country's legal president and getting rid of the corrupted politicians.
Though the film is limited by a point of view that's too polemically reductive, the idealistic, difficult, sometimes lethal struggles it covers are undeniably revelatory and moving.
The toughness and determination of these Ukrainian people is very inspiring. However, at the end of the film, it is noted that many times more people have died since the revolution in the following Russian-Ukrainian conflicts.
Winter on Fire omits key facts, which results in an audience whose understanding of Ukraine's history, politics, regions, sociological makeup, and languages is extremely limited (or nonexistent) receiving a one-sided view of developments in Ukraine.
Modern technology may not yet be able to capture the smell of gunpowder and tear gas, but Mr. Afineevsky takes the viewer closer to the action than might have seemed possible.
