Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer

Anyone with a brain and their eyes open isn't stupid enough to believe in ANY god ... The more stupid in society just believe anything the ruling classes encourage them to do so they can manipulate and control ... They are like sheep ... These girls are great and to be applauded ... And thats from a 57 year old man who isn't Russian or a feminist ... How do you think in 20 years Russia went from a communist state to somewhere where there is an outbreak of billionaires and everyone else has nothing just like before ? ... Open your eyes and see ... Question what you are told ... Otherwise the world will be dead in 2 generations ... It really is that simple

Some North American reviewers have dismissed PUSSY RIOT - A PUNK PRAYER for its lack of objectivity in its presentation of the three Russian girls, who dared to perform punk songs at the altar in Moscow's Orthodox Cathedral. I think that 'subjectivity' is precisely the film's point; the girls were tried and sentenced according to the subjective will of the Russian government. In a truly democratic society, different subjectivities are allowed, but not in Putin's Russia, where the girls are expected to apologize for their 'crimes' before being sentenced. Mike Lerner and Martin Pozdorovkin's film unfolds over the course of six months, taking in the performances of Pussy Riot, the trial and its aftermath. While you might not agree with what the girls actually did, they do have a point; they were simply trying to express their views, not incite religious hatred (as the authorities accused them of doing). In the current context, where individual struggles for freedom are being experienced in other territories, as well as Russia (Egypt, the Turkish Republic), PUSSY RIOT - A PUNK PRAYER offers a salutary lesson: the girls are not alone in trying to assert their democratic rights to free speech. Hopefully this film will be given a wide distribution, to make viewers worldwide aware of its important message.

The so-called Pussy Riot band never practices or performs with musical instruments. I guess their background music is pre-recorded by some other band that can actually play music.

The so-called band is just a bunch of dirty people wearing wool caps pulled down, with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth. Really trashy gang of malcontents who hate the Greek Orthodox Church and everything that is part of Russian culture.

The only thing I like about them is that they burn posters of Putin, who is a dictator of Russia. That took courage. They make a point that Democracy has been destroyed by Putin. I agree with that. It is a valid point.

However, by desecrating a Church, which is very sacred to the members of the Greek Orthodox religion, they deeply offended several million people. They also totally disrespected a place where people go to pray for their loved ones, baptisms, funeral services, etc.

It showed a lack of character on their part, and that they are not just against Putin, or for Democracy. Pussy Riot are anarchists and they are fascists in the way they attack the groups they do not agree with. They should have gone to prison, they deserved it.

This documentary tries to paint the dozens of participants in the Pussy Riot group as victims, but they are victimizers. They could have made their points in a constructive manner, but they realized that by being outrageous and destructive, they would get media attention.

First of all, this is not a "musical punk group". No one ever heard any song from them, except maybe their ridiculous performance in the Churh. Let's quickly recall all their public so called "performances":

1. Public sex in a botanical museum, which was video taped and uploaded to the internet. If you google it, you still have a good chance of finding it. I believe the team was call "Gruppa Voina" at that time.And if I'm not mistaken, they celebrated Medvedev's presidency in such a way. Tolokonnikova was 9 month pregnant at the time.

2. Other members of the team carried out a frozen chicken in their vaginas out of a grocery store. Kids and other people were present. videotaped and uploaded to the internet.

3. Tolokonnikova and others hang by neck in a grocery store several mannequins representing visual minorities (people of Asian background). Public was present in the store. Again, "the performance" was videotaped and uploaded.

4. And of course, the famous performance in the beautiful Christ the Savior Church. Usually people are required to be quiet and decent in this place. Yet they cursed, jumped, etc. I'm surprised that visitors didn't beat and kick them out. If it hadn't happened in Moscow but in some rural church, that would have been the most probable outcome.

If it's art, or "political protest", then I'm from Mars. It's good that finally they were stopped before they did something even more outrageous. And if they haven't learnt the lesson - well, Mr. Putin is not going anywhere any time soon.

It's challenging for North Americans to grasp that there's still danger in speaking your mind in many places in the world. So while we all knew of Russian punk collective Pussy Riot and we all heard about the arrest and prosecution of three of its members after an impromptu performance of "Punk Prayer – Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" on the soleas of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, we might have been left a little befuddled about the exact magnitude of the uproar. The documentary Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer, from directors Mike Lerner and Maksim Pozdorovkin, goes a very long way in casting light on the situation.

The power of "punk" is hackneyed in the West by now, but Pussy Riot and members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich prove that in the more repressive areas of the world it still has the power to provoke. And while the women of Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre in the West, with such supporters as Madonna, Yoko Ono, and Amnesty International, we learn from Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer that the opinion of the Russian public was far more complicated and divided. While there's no doubt where the bias of this doc lies, the directors do an admirable job of documenting the turmoil surrounding three young women who stand on the courage of their convictions.

Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer is one to see. If you're not lucky enough to be in Toronto during HotDocs 13 or you can't score a ticket to any of the 3 screenings, HBO has bought the film and announced plans to air it June 2013.