Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

An inspiring documentary about the Ukrainian people's uprising against an oppressive regime and their successful demands that the Ukraine join the European Union.

Two years ago, my wife and I watched all of the Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature before the big show. One of them was "The Square," about a similar situation in Egypt. Yet things ended badly in that film; the people fought to overthrow the regime in place but didn't have anything to replace it with, so they exchanged one bad set of leaders for another. In "Winter on Fire," a major difference is that the Ukrainian people were able to organize themselves into a de facto political party, with specific demands. Their ability to focus on a specific set of objectives is largely what made their effort successful, and the sheer joy of watching people unite and effect change for the greater good made me absolutely love the Ukrainian people and hope that Americans could do the same if faced with similar challenges.

Grade: A

This is a must see documentary, even if you have opposing views to those displayed in it. Although many holes are left in deciphering what is really going on within Ukraine and between Russia and Ukraine, it does allow you to get one step closer to understanding. I thought it was near perfect!

I am an American living in Kiev for a few months and have been wanting to learn more about this incredible country and the trouble it has been and is facing. I found this review very informative and patriotic. It was helpful in understanding the people and the current situation and I even gained some Ukrainian pride myself!

I'm a Ukrainian. After watching the trailer I got goose bumps. Whatever was going on in Ukraine and things that are still happening, turned all the people very patriotic, people could see the beauty of our country, they could see how unique it is. I guess this movie means a lot for all of us. We want to stop the war in our country, so we want to create the awareness among individuals from other countries. I recommend you to watch it, so you could see what's happening on your own. In the modern world, it is so easy to manipulate people using media, so I guess this is a great opportunity for everyone to decide what he or she thinks about it, not what society does. Revolution is basically a war with society. Its aim is change for better. Many Ukrainians passed away as they wanted to bring a change. Ukrainians have not reached their aim yet, but this movie can help us to take an enormous step towards it.

I've been to Kyiv and seen Maidan Square. I've seen the photos of the people who died lining the street. This is the story of a country fighting to be a free, democratic nation, free from the grip of Putin. As you can see by current events, Putin will do anything to stop Ukraine from being truly free.

Filled with amazing and powerful images of resistance on both a personal and mass scale, this film is what can result when you have a revolution in the age of ubiquitous cell phones and personal drones. And it leads to a kind of combination of visceral immediacy and near epic scope in the telling of the Ukraine's 3 month long citizens' revolt against a corrupt, unresponsive and lying government that would have been near impossible a handful of years earlier. This is experiencing a revolt from the inside; scary, intense, exciting – a powerful emotional roller coaster.

What it isn't, is an intellectually rigorous overview of the issues and conditions that led to the revolt, or what changes did and didn't result in the long term. Those are touched on, of course, but it's a fair criticism that's been leveled against the film, that the uninformed viewer (like me) comes away with only a schematic and simplistic view of the uprising. But, for me, that was enough.

The power of this film is the reminder that it is still possible for people to come together from very different places, Muslims and Catholics, left-wing students and aging military men, the poor and the middle-class – and to band together to overthrow a tyrant with a remarkable limiting of blood-shed. It's a film that will make you shed a tear for the potential for good and for change in the world, and that outweighs whatever shortcomings the film may have.