I could not
stop watching this documentary.
Broken Ties ( Разрыв связи in Russian) is about the families in which one part of the family support Russia and the
other Ukraine. Parents and children,
siblings, husbands and wives.
One of the
interviewed is a psychologist. She applies the same methods on her mother that
she had learned are used to free people from a religious cult. Little by little,
every day, and there is progress. Often her progress is reversed by her mother’s
friends, but she sees that there is a change. There is a pediatrician, Renata,
who is Jewish and whose mother during WWII had been relocated to the Urals and
who is indebted to Russia for saving her life. Although her mother is dissatisfied
with Putin for reversing many of his political commitments, she cannot even
envisage that he is applying the same tactics to bamboozle the population on Ukraine.
Renata is trying to help the children who are under her care, and this is the
only thing that is keeping her from breaking down. What a woman of integrity and
courage!
On the one
side you see rational, intelligent people who are deeply aware of the disaster
Putin has unleashed on both Ukraine and Russia. They feel guilty that they are
not doing enough. On the other are also intelligent people who find every
possible rationalization for Russia’s actions although very often their arguments
are not thought through and are canned phrases from TV – NATO, denazification
and Ukraine would have attacked first if Russia had not beat her to it. Almost as
if they were an AI program going through the Turing Test. One is shocked how
deeply Russian propaganda has succeed in manipulating their patriotism and their
sense of duty. In short, pro Putin people get their
information from the TV, the pro Ukraine ones from the internet.
This documentary should get an Oscar. Putting English subtitles is a must.
