The Revolution That Wasn't
It is Russia in 2007, exactly a year before the next presidential elections. The opposition is set to act decisively and to take power. Politics, however, serves only as the background for the main action, providing the environment in which the protagonists exist. The film is not about politics as such but rather about people in politics and politics in people. In its essence, this is a movie novel.
The two central figures, Anatoly and Andrei, are veteran revolutionaries. Since 1997 they are members of a banned political organisation. Both represent the archetypical character of the Russian history frequently portrayed in the Russian literature of the 19th century: they are idealists who carry the virus of revolution and whose social experiments have occasionally shaken the world. Their strong sense of right and wrong may lead them either to the barricades or to a monastery but never to bourgeois values or to opportunism.
The film’s action begins in early 2007 and ends a year later, after the presidential elections. For the central figures of the film, this is the year of challenge and the start of a new life.
ILKKA MATILA & JAAK KILMI
Duration: 95 min
Dialogue: Finnish, Russian
