"There are many symptoms of totalitarian sickness gripping Alexander Lukashenko's Belarus. You risk being arrested for wearing red and white together, the colours of the outlawed flag of the country's opposition movement. Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four has been banned, which seems rather on the nose. But these are just some of the more farcical elements, the collateral comedy spinning from the deep repression, violence and psychological wounds charted in this sobering film that follows a trio of Belarusian activists,"
"Director Juliane Tutein fashions a melancholic mood-piece which chronicles ineffectualness in the face of impregnable state machinery, and the meaning of resistance under such circumstances. Nina, who is 74, is a kind of Belarusian Batman; an indefatigable symbol of protest who is immune to repression because of her fame. Human rights activist Darya runs her organisation in exile in Vilnius after student activism landed her in hot water."
Totalitarian measures in Belarus produce absurd and dangerous restrictions, such as arrests for wearing banned flag colours and bans on Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The film follows three activists from the pandemic through the Ukraine invasion, portraying exhaustion and steadfastness against an impregnable state. Nina, a 74-year-old emblem of protest, remains immune to repression because of fame; Darya runs a human-rights organisation in exile in Vilnius; Tanya stays near Minsk while her family flees. The narrative emphasizes stamina, incremental acts of defiance, and the effects of civic disengagement and political amnesia on Belarus's descent.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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