Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, 2013
Dir.: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin
Prod.: Maxyne Franklin, Nick Fraser, Xenia Grubstein, Martin Herring, Mike Lerner, Havana Marking, Maxim Pozdorovkin, Nick Quested, Kate Townsend
It's here, it's here, it's HERE! The summer documentary series on HBO has arrived! I never knew how much I wanted this until it actually happened!
It started last night, but I got home late last night and I stayed up way too late watching the doc and by the time I finished, I was way too tired to blog. Especially because this particular doc is mainly in Russian, meaning subtitles, meaning every time I looked down for a second to jot down some notes, I missed something, so there was a lot of rewinding involved. Luckily, my husband kept his word and watched with me, and helpfully read the subtitles when he noticed my head was down.
HBO really chose a strong leader for the first doc of the summer season with "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer".
You probably have heard of Pussy Riot without even realizing it, especially if you were an avid news watcher early in 2012. They made CNN and world news headlines.
A group of Russian women of varying ages, outraged by the re-election of Vladimir Putin in 2011, stage visually stunning, guerrilla-style protests, hiding their identities with brightly colored clothing and covering their faces with balaclavas (ski masks), looking like Luchador Barbie.
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| Accessories include: ATTITUDE! |
In February of 2012, members of Pussy Riot decide to stage a performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow...on the altar...during a service. Yeah. These girls have BALLS.
Naturally, security is called and three of the members of Pussy Riot are arrested on moral charges.
The documentary actually begins with video footage of the arrest, followed by interrogations of the three women who were arrested: three good looking, well spoken women in their early-to-mid-twenties. They are introduced as Nadia, Katia and Masha.
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| otherwise known as the hottest bitches in cell block go-fuck-yourself |
"Did you see where the Easter services were held? The cathedral symbolizes the union of church and state," she replies. "That's not how it should be...the Patriarch stands at the altar. But a woman should occupy it. As a member of Pussy Riot, I believe that women should be allowed to run services and that women should stand at the altar. Because she is not a sinful creature."
The rest of the documentary follows the trial and persecution of the three Pussy Riot members. Cameras, recorders, reporters, journalists, media of all kinds are allowed access to the courtroom. Not one camera is shooed away, no journalist are asked to turn of their recording devices.
As Nadia is led, handcuffed, into
a courtroom, she has nothing but smiles for the overwhelming amount of
reporters that show up. She chats with them, flirts with them, states that
Pussy Riot is a group that Russia needs. Her husband Peter shouts, "You look good, Nadia!"
"I always look good," is her coquettish reply.
Katia receives a welcome from her
family, who ask her if prison has a library. She replies yes, but the books are
old and that new books take a long time to arrive. Her father assures her that
they would send her new ones but “You’ll be out before they reach you.”
As for Masha, she is asked by a
reporter if her son was going to be taken away. Masha replies, “No...When the
investigator presented the charges, he asked me a question: is your child being
cared for? And if he needs to call social services. I almost had a nervous
breakdown. I don’t want to hear a word about social services. And if this
horrific theater affects my child in any way, that will be the worst that could happen.”
Pussy Riot’s lawyer, Violetta, is
a ball-buster. She’s tough and fights hard for her clients. She disagrees with
the court’s decision to keep the girls in jail instead of releasing them on bail, insisting that this is just
going to fuel protest fires, rather than smother them.
“Punk has never existed in
Russia, and neither has performance art. Nobody understands it,” explains
another Pussy Riot lawyer.
Meanwhile, members of The Russian Orthodox "carriers of
the cross" refer to Nadia as a “demon” and the other girls as “witches”, and
discuss how in the 16th century, the girls would have been hanged or
burned. They hold their own protests outside the courtroom as the trial commences, singing hymns and carrying pictures of religious icons.
As the Pussy Riot trial gains momentum, supporters from all
over the world – America to Amsterdam to Ireland – are posting YouTube videos
and making statements, calling for “Free Pussy Riot”. Madonna and Yoko Ono make
public announcements in their support of the imprisoned women. Madonna even performs, in
Moscow, with “Pussy Riot” written on her back, and wearing a balaclava.
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| CHECK! |
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| THIS! |
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| SHIT! |
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| OUT!!!!! |
I think the one thing you must keep in mind while you are watching this film is, Did these women really do anything wrong?
What I mean by this is, did they deserve to be jailed for their "crimes"? In America, they would have a right to protest. In a draconian Russian court system, minor offenses are deemed jail-worthy. Do they really "deserve" to be imprisoned for protesting at a church? While the documentary itself gives the viewer its opinion, it's done in a way that it's really left up to the viewer themselves to decide for sure, which I think makes this a wonderful doc to watch with a group, especially if you're the lively debate type of group.
Next week: "Love, Marilyn" - a look into the very private life of one of Hollywood's most beloved stars.
“Art is not a mirror to reflect
the world, but a hammer with which to shape it” – Bertolt Brecht
Want to join the movement to Free Pussy Riot? Visit http://freepussyriot.org/about
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