In the Holy Fire of Revolution

Masha Novikova, The Netherlands, 2008, color, HD, 113 min
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Reviews
 
Apprentice:
“Ii do like what he is doing. He is at least trying. That's why i gave 3 stars. But the film is not good.”
Mark as improper 22-11-2008
Apprentice:
“I thought it dragged on way too long. I didn't like they use the same dark music track during the whole docu. They could have used some others too. I missed the real personal Kasparov. There was not much emotion displayed of him in the film. It was all too much focused on his official work. We all know he didn't win the elections. To me there was no other development or story line. And i guess other people had the same problem, because i saw people falling asleep in front row... And honest to say, this film made me clear he has not much power in Russia. The only thing they do is send little kids and other low life people to bully at him. If he gets too annoying they just throw him in jail for some days. Also i think some of the demonstrations and acts of police have been made much bigger in the video. I began to doubt this partly because of the dark and gritty music track which returned all the time. Also notice most of the time (except the real big demonstrations) you never get a full view over the crowd, but always heavily zoomed. I don't like when this is done.”
Mark as improper 22-11-2008
Synopsis
 "In chess terms, how would you describe what the authorities did today? Checkmate?" a foreign journalist asks. Garry Kasparov has just been detained for hours at an airport on his way to a demonstration. "They're throwing the pieces off the chessboard," Kasparov responds. The 45-year-old chess master has started a second life in politics. Foreign photographers repeatedly portray him in a chess pose, head in hands, staring at a fictitious chessboard. But the game is unfair, because his opponent is now Vladimir Putin.
The film reveals how the Kremlin systematically sabotages the activities of Kasparov and his party, The Other Russia. They're kept off the big TV stations, peaceful demonstrations are broken up by police, and Kasparov is put behind bars and denied legal council. "A dictatorship, an authoritarian regime," is what Kasparov calls Putin's presidency, and the film seems to confirm this.
In the Holy Fire of Revolution is a must-see for anyone who wants to know what Russia is really like today. Because, Kasparov claims, Moscow has become a display window with which Putin fools the West. Since the former KGB agent became president in 2000, the influence of the Federal Security Service has only grown. In Kasparov's mind, Russia is still anything but a real democracy.

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Credits
DirectorMasha NovikovaPhotographyIgor Minakov, Andrei PitinovScreenplayMasha NovikovaEditingSrdjan FinkSoundAnastasia Pasenchuk, Allard DetigerMusicJeroen GoeijersProductionSasha Ourikh for NOVDOC, Ymke Kreiken for VPROWorld SalesNPO/RNW SalesScreening copyVPROSales ContactKaisa Kriek for NPO/RNW SalesFestival HandlingSasha Ourikh for NOVDOC