Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary contains many interviews of the people of the Russian city of Gorky to show how different sections of Russian society have adapted to the "new Russia" in its infant stage of a free-enterprise system. We see the people's reactions to occurrences never seen before in Russia, such as the auction of government property, organized crime, and foreign influences on society and the economy. The film succeeds in showing both the positive and negative effects of capitalist and democratic reforms in Gorky. A middle age woman thrives after launching her own bank. Russia is striving to its preserve cultural heritage by fostering its ballet dancers. On the other hand, medicine is not readily available to all in Gorky. A young man with cerebral palsy cannot afford to have his wheelchair repaired. Hospitals are filled with children without proper medicine. Many people interviewed longed for the better days before the fall of Soviet communism. Gorky is shown as a city torn between the tensions of reformists for free-enterprise and hard-line communists.

The narrator and interviewed Russians all speak Russian, and the film is therefore subtitled. While the content would be good for an introduction to post-communist Russia, the subtitles make the documentary laborious. Through better editing, an English speaking narrator could have substituted well. I do not recommend this film for general audiences, but it may be useful to students of advanced courses in Russian political science or history.