Adam Curtis has the instinct for the "telling" shot. The images he has gleaned are hauntingly powerful: the little beggar girl. The Coal Miners In Donetsk. So many shots, so many emotional images. Bravo for this work, Adam/Joseph whoever you are to be presenting this stuff. It' s not merely informative. It's inspiring!
Can't help wondering which of all the countless people in this documentary are still alive, and what became of them through all the turmoil. The Ukraine scenes - "Kyiv against Moscow" and "Directorate Z" - at 45:34 are haunting. Goes a long way to explain where we are now.
By the way, one of the commanders responsible for the deaths of three protesters was captain Surovikin. Two people were shot, one was crushed by his tank. He spent 7 month in prison, but then was released and promoted by the order of Eltsin. He continued his career, commiting crimes everywhere he went. He is now the general in charge of the whole military operation in Ukraine. That's the kind of people Putin likes to keep around and rely on.
@@Radi0he4d1 Maybe even after that, it's not easy to forget. At the same time, many of those fighting for their rights and their democracies in different countries were also born in USSR. I was born in USSR too. What has to go, it's the Soviet-bred nomenklatura.
This footage is so spectacular. I can’t stop watching. I feel like I saw snapshots of these various events, never with actual audio, just Dan Rather talking over clips. That is all we knew of any of this and what a nightmare it was for so many. Allowing us to hear their voices, and feel the emotion in their speech, humanizes everything so much.
Yeltsin looks GREAT sober. Growing up in the 90s, I saw very few images of Yeltsin sober and coherent on American television. They always showed him drunk, dancing on tables! Why is that?
The thing I'm surprised by is how well Boris Yeltsin comes across in this. I was born in 88, so I only really remember his drunken shenanigans, but I can totally see why he looked like the man for the job at the time.
Took me a while to get it. This is as much about what might be coming, as it is about what had happened and lead us here. There’s always the ones to rise to the challenge and take the opportunity to forge their own way. The common man often just stands aside and hopes that things don’t get worse. Or feels trapped like in orbit, forced to watch and keep going, while the beggars struggle to make a living and the thieves hide the wealth of the country away abroad. Putin might not be hiding, crying and ordering a glass of water yet, but who knows what is to come?
@@putsunutsu Tallinn is such a cool, jazzy, beautiful city. I went there for an international teachers conference in 2019 for just a week but was stuck by cool, chill, modern vibes. That city really leveled up after the 90s!!
Oh, what an irony! At 32:50 Yeltsin blames Gorbachev for the coup/disaster because "these were his own close people", while himself he chose Putin as his successor who would undo everything he was fighting for.
the only thing Yeltsin ever fought for was another chug of the bottle. he went on to shell the fucking parliament, commit crimes against Chechnya out of spite, and sell his country. and still a better leader than Putin who hypocritically likes to lean into soviet imagery while saying they were monsters who committed countless crimes against the Russian people.
Очень интересно было бы узнать о сторонниках Ельцина в 1991-году. Как сложилась их судьба? Стали ли они бизнесменами, чиновниками или их перемолола та система, в защиту которой они бросались на танки?
Fascinating insight in an empire in dissolution, all the signs of decay is there. Everything is in shambles. What strikes me is how everything is so ugly, awkward, clumsy, primitive, weird, strange and bizarre.
38:35 those revolutionaries had style; seems like set in scene by someone who knew what they were doing… 34:47 I also liked the idea of trying to prevent the services from deleting the records; like what happened at the Stasi HQ. - The modern problem is, that it’s all on computers… - I’d still watch a US version with 100k people blocking the buildings and searching the staff at the HQs of the US equivalents… - tbh: Edward Snowden should be in charge of the equivalent what in Germany became the Stasi-Unterlagen-Behörde: every citizen should have a right to view his file!
I'm enjoying this series tho' at times it feels like it was hurriedly put together, not as thought out as Curtis's previous work in my opinion, at least so far. Still better than any other source out there.
the problem with 30 year old footage from an authoritarian regime (the USSR, not the Beeb) is that it is limited, there was only so much they'd let you record and take out of the country. especially relating to the subject of politics. so not much material. moreover this series is about the downfall of russia and more importantly, the rise of Putin, is that these 3 episodes where the good times- this is the calm before the storm bucko.
Adam Curtis, as usual, is brilliant in telling a story of humankind in turmoil. Whoever thinks Communism was all about corruption and state oppression is a victim of ignorance.the idea was to create a better future for everyone based on equality and fraternity but human nature wasn’t ready for it.. Greed, envy, jealousy and fear took over all theg ideas of a different future for mankind and that’s why it didn’t work. I think in 30 year’s time they will make a film about living through the fall of capitalism and I wander what they will show: people watching gogglebox? Farage waving flags? Food banks??
@@hjalmarzolachristensen8080 you obviously haven’t lived in a communist country. It wasn’t all bad. Free health, free education, pretty much free housing… a mindset that wasn’t obsessed with profit, growth, gdp, and other tawdry capitalist concepts that treat everyone like a product. I grew up believing the whole world were my brothers and sisters… I still keep this belief
@@trollopofdeptford Ah yes.. the lefts favorite word "free". It aint free, you're taking what people produce with force, distributing the crumbs and pretending you're heroes for doing so. Somewhere someone worked for what you pretend to just appear as free. I have read my share of 20:e century history from China, Germany, Russia, Cambodia and South America to know what Communits are willing to do to gain power over the means of production. Funny how they in all cases are really good at the taking "control part", just really really really bad at actaully ultizing the means of production and make their so called paradise. The people in the bureaucracy class running these communist societies just happens to be a little more "eqaul" than their fellow peers. They earn a "little" more money than their fellow "brothers" and "sisters", eat at the fines restaurants, drive the nicest cars etc. It's almost as if this class is not the working class at all, they are the replacement of the king, the nobles or the factory owners that they say they have saved the working class from. Funny how they built the Berlin wall to keep people from leaving this heaven of a communits country that East Germany was. Strange that so many tried to flee East Germany and was willing to risk their own life for it. Why on earth would they leave this heaven of a place to go to live in the West? I guess they just didn't understand this miracle of a place East Germany was, with all informants working for the state trying to control every citizen to say, write, think or do the "right" thing according to the state.
the best thing i saw this year. by far. east europe was in a very bad shape in the 90 s just like russians BUT they passed the test. they made it. russia, now, went back to old ways as if it knows no better. sad. sad that others die.
" BUT" - Хуят. Johann Heinrich von Thünen, Walter Christaller, August Lösch, ring a bell, an idiot? Russia is very peripheral country with more harsher climate than any eastern European country and conservative orthodox culture loan from our closest neighbors from Byzantine empire. We didn't choose geography. "sad" - What is really sad is the liars like you who still cackling about "free will", "choices" and metaphysical stuff like that to conveniently blame someone in his misfortunes.
It's a whole new situation currently. Russia today is not Russia from 80's. What do you think would happen if NATO dismanteles Russia? They would start the war with China next. If they somehow defeat China - its full spectrum dominance. The brave new world
The video is called Russia but it contains a lot of scenes of other countries Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Estonia and so on. It's imperialistic point of view.
20:47 this man is Viktor Zolotov, former Yeltsin's bodyguard, now director of the National Guard and one of the most powerful people in Putin's regime
I noticed him immediately, too. Interesting to note how far he's advanced within the regime being little more than a loyal thug.
And snappy dresser
Adam Curtis has the instinct for the "telling" shot. The images he has gleaned are hauntingly powerful: the little beggar girl. The Coal Miners In Donetsk. So many shots, so many emotional images. Bravo for this work, Adam/Joseph whoever you are to be presenting this stuff. It' s not merely informative. It's inspiring!
The rail trucks being forced onto the other track to follow the locomotive at the end. - Nice symbolism.
@@peterrenn6341 Agreed. It's positively painful in that good story telling way.
Can't help wondering which of all the countless people in this documentary are still alive, and what became of them through all the turmoil.
The Ukraine scenes - "Kyiv against Moscow" and "Directorate Z" - at 45:34 are haunting. Goes a long way to explain where we are now.
45:49 now you know what Z really stands for
Incredible the interviews with the astronauts! Imagine being in orbit during a coup!
Wow. Amazing. Compelling. I am understanding so much more about what the Russian elders have gone through.
Never ending cycle. Incompetence, graft, theft, violence, recriminations, denial, death, more denial, strongmen, war, purge repeat.
Rinse and then repeat!😎
The priest waiting for a car by the motorway was almost too symbolic to believe
is he a Orthodox priest? I don't understand this one.
солидный господь для солидных господ
@@royvillal9906yes
Something about the bear wandering around in the woods got me
Bear is the spirit animal of Russia, no? The fat walruses were the Old Army Generals of the failed coup.
That is the moment when the poet in you was born.
@@kemitchell …. Lol okay bro
By the way, one of the commanders responsible for the deaths of three protesters was captain Surovikin. Two people were shot, one was crushed by his tank. He spent 7 month in prison, but then was released and promoted by the order of Eltsin. He continued his career, commiting crimes everywhere he went.
He is now the general in charge of the whole military operation in Ukraine. That's the kind of people Putin likes to keep around and rely on.
The Soviet Union will exist and have influence until the last soviet-born citizen passes away
@@Radi0he4d1 Maybe even after that, it's not easy to forget. At the same time, many of those fighting for their rights and their democracies in different countries were also born in USSR. I was born in USSR too.
What has to go, it's the Soviet-bred nomenklatura.
General “Armageddon”, satan is waiting for him
Thanks for uploading these
This footage is so spectacular. I can’t stop watching. I feel like I saw snapshots of these various events, never with actual audio, just Dan Rather talking over clips. That is all we knew of any of this and what a nightmare it was for so many. Allowing us to hear their voices, and feel the emotion in their speech, humanizes everything so much.
This documentary is amazing!
Yeltsin looks GREAT sober. Growing up in the 90s, I saw very few images of Yeltsin sober and coherent on American television. They always showed him drunk, dancing on tables! Why is that?
Same in the UK
Seeing a world leader drunk is crazy shit. That's why.
The thing I'm surprised by is how well Boris Yeltsin comes across in this. I was born in 88, so I only really remember his drunken shenanigans, but I can totally see why he looked like the man for the job at the time.
I remember at the time how heroic he seemed.
He was. His moment was when he climbed on the tank, the moments afterward were not so much.
I guess running a country and taking it from communism to ultra version of capitalism is a tough ass job! Drinking to cope...
real life robert baratheon
Gorbachev certainly didn't deserve the way Yeltsin treated him.
Took me a while to get it.
This is as much about what might be coming, as it is about what had happened and lead us here.
There’s always the ones to rise to the challenge and take the opportunity to forge their own way.
The common man often just stands aside and hopes that things don’t get worse. Or feels trapped like in orbit, forced to watch and keep going, while the beggars struggle to make a living and the thieves hide the wealth of the country away abroad.
Putin might not be hiding, crying and ordering a glass of water yet, but who knows what is to come?
Who would you rather dance with: Chechen Rebels or Striking Miners?
Great question. I'm leaning rebels but honestly both seem fun.
The dance on 54:54 is mindblowing - that last look in the camera.
Can you imagine what it felt like to dance there? Would you have dared? What must it feel like to dance the same today, but under Kadyrov the younger?
Absolutely amazing docu
The Russians experienced in 1991 exactly what they did to the East Germans in 1953, to the Hungarians in 1956 and to the Czechoslovakians in 1968!
4:30 “We want to stop the Coup!” - “No, you ARE the coup!”. - UNO reverse card “Revolutionary Edition”
Next up: January 6th in review…
Don't agree with what Gorbachev did but he seems like he was a nice guy to me. Like a friendly uncle or grandpa.
Maybe somebody like him should have taken in power in the 1970s when there was still time to reform for the better.
It was all too rotten by his time.
@@cow_tools_ The one thing grandpas can't tell grandsons about the world is that their time has passed.
09:24 wrong titles. The scenes are from Estonia
Danke an Fefe!
This is a masterpiece of visual history.
Hey, is that Philip Jennings leading the marching band at 0:47?
People carving up their own slice of pie
I wonder why in "Kaliningrad Resort" the sign is written in Estonian..?
Because that isn’t Kaliningrad - it’s Pirita beach, near Tallinn, in Estonia. You can see the white tower in the distance.
@@putsunutsu Tallinn is such a cool, jazzy, beautiful city. I went there for an international teachers conference in 2019 for just a week but was stuck by cool, chill, modern vibes. That city really leveled up after the 90s!!
It´s not Kaliningrad in 9.16, it´s Tallinn, Estonia. The sign is in estonian and russian.
Oh, what an irony! At 32:50 Yeltsin blames Gorbachev for the coup/disaster because "these were his own close people", while himself he chose Putin as his successor who would undo everything he was fighting for.
the only thing Yeltsin ever fought for was another chug of the bottle. he went on to shell the fucking parliament, commit crimes against Chechnya out of spite, and sell his country. and still a better leader than Putin who hypocritically likes to lean into soviet imagery while saying they were monsters who committed countless crimes against the Russian people.
When do the workers get to win?
I hope that the Dwarf Tzar falls
I wonder why is so little views for so good project
Очень интересно было бы узнать о сторонниках Ельцина в 1991-году. Как сложилась их судьба? Стали ли они бизнесменами, чиновниками или их перемолола та система, в защиту которой они бросались на танки?
The clip at 9:15 isn't from Kaliningrad Oblast but from Estonia. You can see it by the bilingual signs (Estonian/Russian).
anyone know the name of the song the children are singing at 47:47?
Ой, вставала я ранёшенько
Fascinating insight in an empire in dissolution, all the signs of decay is there. Everything is in shambles. What strikes me is how everything is so ugly, awkward, clumsy, primitive, weird, strange and bizarre.
অসাধারণ
One wonders what role Yeltsin had in the coup, or how much he knew.
00:43:40 looks like an StG44 fitted with a longer barrel.
38:35 those revolutionaries had style; seems like set in scene by someone who knew what they were doing…
34:47 I also liked the idea of trying to prevent the services from deleting the records; like what happened at the Stasi HQ. - The modern problem is, that it’s all on computers… - I’d still watch a US version with 100k people blocking the buildings and searching the staff at the HQs of the US equivalents… - tbh: Edward Snowden should be in charge of the equivalent what in Germany became the Stasi-Unterlagen-Behörde: every citizen should have a right to view his file!
45:49 Watching this in 2023 as the Russian Ukraine war goes.... haunting past.
This is the wests future
I'm enjoying this series tho' at times it feels like it was hurriedly put together, not as thought out as Curtis's previous work in my opinion, at least so far. Still better than any other source out there.
the problem with 30 year old footage from an authoritarian regime (the USSR, not the Beeb) is that it is limited, there was only so much they'd let you record and take out of the country. especially relating to the subject of politics. so not much material. moreover this series is about the downfall of russia and more importantly, the rise of Putin, is that these 3 episodes where the good times- this is the calm before the storm bucko.
.....Ничего не изменилось Ни-ЧЕ-ГО!
the girl "from Kazakhstan" at 48:15 is the girl "from Moscow" from the Episode 2????? hmmmm
OMG
Adam Curtis, as usual, is brilliant in telling a story of humankind in turmoil.
Whoever thinks Communism was all about corruption and state oppression is a victim of ignorance.the idea was to create a better future for everyone based on equality and fraternity but human nature wasn’t ready for it.. Greed, envy, jealousy and fear took over all theg ideas of a different future for mankind and that’s why it didn’t work. I think in 30 year’s time they will make a film about living through the fall of capitalism and I wander what they will show: people watching gogglebox? Farage waving flags? Food banks??
Communism can work but it needs independent checks and balances and advanced economic development to implement it.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Communism is nummero uno in that category.
@@hjalmarzolachristensen8080 you obviously haven’t lived in a communist country. It wasn’t all bad. Free health, free education, pretty much free housing… a mindset that wasn’t obsessed with profit, growth, gdp, and other tawdry capitalist concepts that treat everyone like a product. I grew up believing the whole world were my brothers and sisters… I still keep this belief
@@trollopofdeptford Ah yes.. the lefts favorite word "free". It aint free, you're taking what people produce with force, distributing the crumbs and pretending you're heroes for doing so. Somewhere someone worked for what you pretend to just appear as free.
I have read my share of 20:e century history from China, Germany, Russia, Cambodia and South America to know what Communits are willing to do to gain power over the means of production. Funny how they in all cases are really good at the taking "control part", just really really really bad at actaully ultizing the means of production and make their so called paradise.
The people in the bureaucracy class running these communist societies just happens to be a little more "eqaul" than their fellow peers. They earn a "little" more money than their fellow "brothers" and "sisters", eat at the fines restaurants, drive the nicest cars etc. It's almost as if this class is not the working class at all, they are the replacement of the king, the nobles or the factory owners that they say they have saved the working class from.
Funny how they built the Berlin wall to keep people from leaving this heaven of a communits country that East Germany was. Strange that so many tried to flee East Germany and was willing to risk their own life for it. Why on earth would they leave this heaven of a place to go to live in the West? I guess they just didn't understand this miracle of a place East Germany was, with all informants working for the state trying to control every citizen to say, write, think or do the "right" thing according to the state.
@@trollopofdeptford Communism is an ideology like any other, so it is a human idea, it is automatically wrong. We are destined to be wrong.
the best thing i saw this year. by far.
east europe was in a very bad shape in the 90 s just like russians BUT they passed the test. they made it. russia, now, went back to old ways as if it knows no better. sad. sad that others die.
" BUT"
- Хуят. Johann Heinrich von Thünen, Walter Christaller, August Lösch, ring a bell, an idiot? Russia is very peripheral country with more harsher climate than any eastern European country and conservative orthodox culture loan from our closest neighbors from Byzantine empire. We didn't choose geography.
"sad"
- What is really sad is the liars like you who still cackling about "free will", "choices" and metaphysical stuff like that to conveniently blame someone in his misfortunes.
Subtitles teasing.can’t activate them goes back to nada😒
sad but true, I wonder when will humanity learn something from past experiences?
nothing says manliness like a Chechyn dance........
28:08 can anyone confirm this is Putin?
Imagine if the governors of Florida, California and Texas signed a treaty declaring the USA to no longer exist and not tell the President?
That's the crappiest analogy i've ever heard. United States is a voluntary federation.
@@PauliusTautvydasyou cannot leave the federation legally.
Soviet tanks are like parrots. If you throw a cloth over them they go to sleep.
Yeltin was a slime bag
6:30 -- This is why the Ukrainians will never give up.
superficial judgment
I hope russia burns every last nazi
It's a whole new situation currently. Russia today is not Russia from 80's. What do you think would happen if NATO dismanteles Russia? They would start the war with China next. If they somehow defeat China - its full spectrum dominance. The brave new world
Stalin couldn’t wipe out the Ukrainians, and neither can Poutine.
The video is called Russia but it contains a lot of scenes of other countries Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Estonia and so on.
It's imperialistic point of view.
lol
> It's imperialistic point of view.
No, it sets the context.
this has been non stop nazi propaganda and anti soviet propaganda highlight reel, cool job curtis, hope you enjoy working on the world land bridge
You reckon? Honestly if you get to the later parts it makes the Soviets look good by comparison.
The Nazis were choir boys compared to the soviets.
@@valdomero738 No they weren't.
It’s not actually. If you watch all of it, it shows the evils of capitalism
At least Germany stopped
54:48 i see shamil