Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom is a 2014 film from Ukraine directed by Evgeny Afineevsky.
It is a documentary about the "Euromaidan
" protests of November 2013-February 2014 in Kyiv. Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, widely seen as pro-Russia, withdraws at the last moment from an agreement to join The European Union. Instead, he pursues an agreement with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin.
Outrage over this amongst pro-EU and anti-Russian Ukrainians leads to protests in Kyiv's central square, Maidan Nezalezhnosti ("Independence Square"). The anti-government rallies are initially relatively small scale, but an attack on November 30 by government security forces backfires and increases support for the protesters. As protesters continue to occupy the square through the new year and into February 2014, government police and paramilitary forces (notably the pro-Russia Berkut) become more aggressive, eventually firing live bullets at the protesters. Meanwhile, the protests widen in scope, as opposition builds to Yanukovych, government corruption, and Russian influence in Ukraine.
Tropes:
- Disturbed Doves: The rattle of automatic weapons fire as the militia starts shooting at the protesters in the square is accompanied by a shot of pigeons flying away from their resting place on power liens.
- Documentary: One that makes no pretense of neutrality but sides wholeheartedly with the anti-Yanukovych protest movement.
- A Dog Named "Dog": The central square in Kyiv where the protests take place is called Maidan Nezalezhnosti, "Independence Square". However, everyone in the city calls it simply "Maidan", or "Square".
- Fan Disservice: A protester seized by the security forces is stripped totally naked before he's chucked into a paddy wagon. Another protester who witnessed the scene observes that the security people tried to humiliate the protester but really humiliated themselves.
- Flyaway Shot: The last shot of the movie is a camera shot that swoops up and away from the square as the protesters stand vigil at night.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: During an assult by the Berkut into the Maidan, the struggle became literally a push of bodies- Berkut against protestors- to see which side could force the other out of the Square. The bellringer of Saint Michael's Cathedral, Ivan Sydor, asked for and was granted permission from the Bishop to sound all the bells in the tower at once to call more people into the streets and join the struggle.note
- How We Got Here: Starts on Day 92 of the protests/revolution, as a man in the square breathlessly tells the camera how he was just pulling a corpse out of the street, while gunfire can be heard in the distance. Then the film jumps back to the previous fall and the abandoned EU agreement.
- Jitter Cam: Seen many times as government goons attack protesters and whoever's holding the camera is forced to flee.
- Narrator: Used only briefly in the opening scenes, describing Yanukovych's withdrawal from the EU agreement. The rest of the story is told on camera by people who were there.
- Oh, Crap!: A massive one by the Opposition leaders trying to get the crowds to disperse with promises of new elections- in six months. The people know that Yanukovich can easily go back on his word, that many of them will be arrested or worse, and that they may not gather in these numbers again. THEN a member of the army takes the stage, seizes the microphone, and announces the army is with the people and want to march on the government if their demands aren't met. The look on the Opposition leader sells it- he's lost control and these people all suspect him of selling his soul to Yanukovich.
- Police Brutality: Put on horrifying display throughout the film.
- Powder Keg Crowd: Shown multiple times during the film when the Berkut face off with the Maidan protesters.
- Spiritual Antithesis: The direct opposite of Oliver Stone's Ukraine on Fire, which is vehemently pro-Russian narrative against Ukraine and portrays the 2014 revolution as a US-backed nationalist coup.
- State Sec: The Berkut units come across as effective troops, especially when their brutality is shown on camera. Originally founded after the collapse of the USSR as a kind of SWAT unit charged with fighting The Mafiya, the Berkut became associated with corruption and authoritarianism up until their disbandment after the Revolution. They bring shotguns, sniper rifles, grenades, and military armored trucks to bear against the protesters.
- Stock Footage: News reports of Yanukovych abandoning the EU agreement, Yanukovych making an agreement with Putin, and the Ukrainian parliament passing repressive laws against the protesters.
- Totalitarian Gangsterism: The Berkut and Yanukovich turned to the Titushki for more muscle. Gangs of violent men similar to Football Hooligans but with a pro-Yanukovich streak and organized crime connections. Reports stated the regime paid $100 a day for a Titushki to take to the streets and attack protesters.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: One sequence shows retired army officers, sympathetic to the movement, training the young people in the square on basic tactics to stand up against the police and militia attacking them.
- Undercrank: The security cam footage of Yanukovych hurriedly leaving the city by helicopter. Apparently it was time-lapse footage, which is sped up in the movie, giving the movements onscreen a strange jerky quality.
