Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone (2022) User Reviews

As a person born in '88 in Eastern Europe, this series is an eye opener

[Lucian-Alexe · 9/10 · 7 December 2022]

Most of the people that will watch the series will point out that it is somewhat inaccurate or that it leaves out other historical significant events happening at the same time. This is 100% true, so if you are looking for a historical documentary on Eastern Europe and the fall of communism in the 90s, you should look elsewhere.

This series is basically archival footage of the BBC. Curtis selected from hundreds of hours of material the most interesting bits. And some of them are SO SO interesting. For example, the message that Gorbachev records from Crimeea where he was ousted by the military and that's recorded over his nephew ballet practice. It creates a different side to the reality which you would have never known otherwise. It humanizes the character, while at the same time showing you a sort of amateurish side to the whole affair... Or maybe it shows the crisis situation in which they were all in... There can be many interperations, and almost every single piece of footage is a gem.

I found many similarties between Russia of those years and what happened afterwards in the former communist block. Thanks Adam Curtis for creating yet another masterpiece.

I thought I understood the fall of the USSR...

[squigg-71830 · 10/10 · 15 December 2022]

.... But after watching this, I realise I knew virtually nothing.

I was born in 1971 in the UK. I studied modern history. I lived through the of the Cold War and vividly remember the Berlin Wall coming down. I remember the attempted coup in Russia. I remember the joy at the Cold War ending and Russia emerging from communism

Watching this, I now realise all I had was a hideously narrow view of things. You can't help but feel utter sorrow for the Russian people as the world collapsed around them and the wealth of the country was stolen. It's heartbreaking

This is a horror film. It was aptly named.

Mesmerizing

[hrijpstra · 9/10 · 31 October 2022]

Loved it, as I do with all of Curtis's films.

That being said I was first put off by the lack of narration. Upon further reflection I mostly find Curtis's narration and attempts at sensemaking confounding anyway. This footage mostly doesn't need it.

The dissolution of the Sovjet Union is right at the cusp of that which I recognize from everyday life and that which is completely foreign to my personal experience. This series reflects this back to me perfectly. It is both fascinating and unnerving to watch, like actually being there, not fully understanding where you are or what to do. I suspect the people portrayed must have felt similarly.

If the point is to give an emotional history of the events this series is most certainly the best effort I can imagine. The footage is well chosen and the lack of music makes for a pretty raw emotional imprint.

Lamentable & tragic, yet totally irresistible viewing

[michaelberanek275 · 10/10 · 17 October 2022]

It's a masterpiece and a mammoth production undertaking, very cleverly edited where each episode allows the viewer to follow a few particular people featured throughout for instance, intersped by various other events throughout the (former) Soviet Union. Although in some sense, it's just a countless number of bits of BBC video spliced together, it is much more than that and very cleverly done. There's no spoken narration but some great sound and music: pop, choral & even some dancing authentically attached to the videos, and only a few very good succinct subtitles to give some sense of the wider history. There is so much material, in such detail, from so many perspectives that in the way it's done it represents something of a vast video social history of Russia in the end of the 20th century. There are a few of the political players, but mostly just suffering ordinary people, not to mention the odd bear, monkey, a forlorn hungry zoo tigress... One can gather quite a lot about the historical political situation from the point of view of the traumatised masses and from so many different locations and ethnicities across this great nation imploding under the weight of kleptocracy. A 9000km long tragic crime scene.

It's a work of genius

[JBLOSS · 9/10 · 24 August 2023]

Trauma zone is profoundly affecting, It's a series that is so disconcerting, chaotic, unsettling and surprising that I found I couldn't binge watch it. I had to take my time to digest what I was seeing. I lived through the period in question and had literally no idea of what was really happening in Russia. This is more a work of art or perhaps an "emotional history" than a straight history (and looking at some of these reviews some people have not appreciated this). It's aiming to reflect what it was like to live through this and frankly I am surprised if anyone in Russia retained 100% of their sanity with everything that happened. This series is stupendous in its breadth and the footage it includes provides a disturbing insight into a turbulent and almost hallucinogenic period of recent history for Russia and the former USSR. It's brilliant basically.

speachless

[dragokin · 14 May 2023]

Adam Curtis made an excellent choice not to narrate Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone. Although at times I've almost heard his voice and it would have fitted perfectly, the images were so strong and speaking for themselves that narration would've just spoiled them.

In fact it would be very difficult to summarize in one review what this documentary tried to convey. We saw a lot of extremes one associates with Russia, probably intensified because we're observing a country partially rooted in European culture.

It was inevitable that Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone offers some insights in the former Soviet republics, as well, even some satellites of the Warsaw pact. I'm pointing this out since it still puzzles me why a lot of people use the terms Russian and Soviet interchangeably.

Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone was very good, both in terms of content and delivery. Even the inevitable bias, given the footage stemming from BBC archives, was so slight that it didn't ruin the objectivity of the documentary.

Awesome BBC historical documentary

[Funkyhousedave · 10/10 · 18 October 2022]

What an unexpected jem. I can't thank the various BBC journalists that shot this enough for the almost unbelievable insight it gives into the Russian past and also what's happening today.

To be able to see things from the top political levels right down to what it was like in day to day Russian life on the ground is brilliant.

Having visited Moscow and Ukraine I found it a shocking insight into what was invisible to a casual tourist but lurking beneath the surface.

Just a pity that my current favourite BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg doesn't seem to have had any involvement so far.

Truth must prevail !

Stark, captivating, appalling and enlightening

[gavinsutcliffe-51124 · 10/10 · 12 June 2023]

An amazing series, filled with extraordinary first-hand archive footage presented without audio narration that provides viewers with unique and often highly-intimate perspectives on life in the USSR and Russia during this period. Overlaid only with basic English text, it provides an unfiltered and graphic visualisation of the often-appalling world that Soviet citizens endured - and then how dark malignant forces took root. Watching this series helps one to better understand why Russia and her neighbours are the way they are today, to appreciate the immense pain and endless hardships endured by generations of people across a vast stretch of land. It feels epic and is epically insightful in the process. Brilliantly presented, compelling TV. Living history at its best.

History as it Unfolds

[MillerWissen · 10/10 · 24 April 2023]

No agenda here just facts, I also thought I knew enough about the fall of the USSR and I learned much from this documentary, in my opinion this should be shown in schools uncensored in it's entirety as everyone deserves the truth about what the world is and was.

It also shows how history repeats itself and shows the failures when Russia tried to turn to capitalism, Gorbachev's plans that never came to be and a country completely out of control and without real leadership.

Also would be nice to see a followup from 1999-2023 about Russia and other such about the EU/UK and USA including the recent events about the war in Ukraine.

Absolute quality

[Chabrolfan · 10/10 · 24 May 2023]

This series is a perfect illustration of the value of editing in film and television. Now, I have to admit that I will watch almost anything about the Soviet Union and Russia, and this is pretty much the happiest 7 hours I could spend in front of the box, but the series is objectively quite brilliant in conception and execution. As well as the authorial brilliance Adam Curtis, the end-credits make clear how indebted the director is to the people who captured the extraordinary footage throughout the 1990s. Heartbreaking, poignant and frequently hilarious, this is a mesmerising slice of life from a country in meltdown and full of little known insights. Perfect for anybody who has enjoyed any of Sergei Loznitsa's edited documentary footage or the superb "Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu".

Misleading Narratives and chronology of Events; Footage compilation A+

[dpmillerllc · 6/10 · 19 October 2022]

First off let me say I'm a big fan of Adam Curtis. His previous docuseries about public relations was very interesting and enlightening. Unfortunately, his text providing descriptions of events throughout this series are somewhat misleading and simplify the issues.

He constantly criticizes leaders for campaigning to reform then once in power continuing the corruption. There was no blueprint to take a 100% Collective, state-owned economy and transition it to a free market. It's not as simple as applying reforms. The reforms could have potentially made a very bad situation worse. Nobody knows. One can theorize that's it. I'm not excusing the corruption but there wasn't a clear delineated path to reform the economy. And the term shock therapy is not necessarily accurate either. All the way up until 1995 the majority of the main industries, what Lennon called the commanding Heights of the economy, we're in the hands of the red directors. That doesn't equal shock therapy to me. And lastly, the 1996 election was very similar to the 1932 election in the Weimar Republic. The two largest opposing political parties the Communists and nationalists both advocated for the abolition of democracy and a return to State Control. With the huge Industries controlling much of the natural resources of Russia still in the hands of the public sector all the way up until a year before the election the motivation at the time for selling them to the Russian oligarchs was to entrench and solidify the free market before the election so that if the opposition one the presidential election they could not start deconstructing the privatization process that Gorbachev started in the late '80s. Was it fair? No. But what was the alternative? Sell the industries for market value to foreign multinational corporations. And that definitely wouldn't fly putting all of Russia's natural resources in the hands of foreigners and foreign companies. So the idea was to get the major industries into the private sector and keep them in Russian hands. The economists advocated this at the time it wasn't related to Russia's budget deficits and national debt. It was a strategic preemptive move to oust the red directors and remove any chance of communists/nationalists (if they won 1996 presidential election) being able to touch natural resources/giant industries of Russia again. Idk where he came up with their sale financed russias government. It's objectively not true. Giant industries sold to oligarchs- Nov/Dec 1995. Elections of 1996 were in June. IMF loan was in March 1996...4.3 billion. And the IMF loan wasn't taken out of the country immediately. If anything it was given to ensure Yeltsin would be able to win reelection. He obviously had to commit to reforms before getting the loan. The IMF and the Western countries saw the writing on the wall with the two opposition parties.

My point in writing all that is the situation wasn't as simple as corruption in lieu of implementing the proper unnecessary reforms. World renowned economists were assisting in the public to private transition and a lot of what they suggested was implemented. The situation was a lot more nuanced than the documentary led the viewer to believe.

Another monumental entry in Adam Curtis' corpus

[euhafshzs · 10/10 · 8 July 2023]

Adam Curtis blesses us again with another multi-hour, hard-hitting, raw documentary. The concept of the footage speaking for itself is risky; however, the bet pays off fully, transporting the viewer into a realm of real-life ultraviolence. While not entirely a novel concept, it is a far more intellectual endeavor than a pundit panel or a classic history documentary.

Growing up in the 1990es Russia, my recollections of the period are vague and are in the process of being excavated by a psychologist. The series rips up the protective cortisol abatement of psychological trauma I experienced only as a spectator - a seven-hour panic attack fueled by violence, injustice, and disregard for human life.

While this viewing experience may sound like a definition of Hell, it is strangely therapeutic - perhaps by being so personal. It also, perhaps unintentionally, has a message of perseverance in face of the horrors of the human condition.

Scene highlight: man drinking low-quality bootleg vodka with disgust - sums up the atrocities depicted in the documentary quite well.

Russian martyrology

[jakefinnmail · 6/10 · 20 October 2022]

Maybe you are familiar with this one: Russia had hope in the early 90s and that hope faded. Despite Yeltsin and Gorbachev's best efforts, Russia became a bloodthirsty dictatorship.

This is a tasteless lie in this context. Curtis offers one of his weakest works at the worst possible time. His exposé on 85 to 99 is skin deep. Gorbachev whipping up ethnic hatred in Vilnius is absent. The Alma Ata, Tbilisi and Latvian killings are downplayed or absent. The meteorological engineering that kept Chornobyl radiation in Ukraine and Belarus is absent. Yeltsin invading and occupying Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia goes unmentioned. We are given the image of Russia sliding into the war in Chechnya and yet prior wars are absent.

Rashism, Russian fascism, has been present from Tsarist times till today. Curtis, who has offered such in depth explorations of the Western psyche with Can't Get You Out of My Head and The Century of The Self fails to offer anything but a catalogue of miseries hitting Russia. He presents a story akin to lost innocence and lost hope, but in reality Russia remained an outwardly aggressive, violent, rashist nation. Curtis has offered us an irrelevant documentary for understanding Russia today. Nothing was gained nor learnt from this era. As ever Russian history is written as a story of victimhood that Curtis does not question. Why did the Russian people stay quiet during ethnic cleansings in Abkhazia and Transnistria? Why does Curtis not explore racial hierarchy within Russia? Why is Russian nationalism not explored when it is so relevant to the war in Chechnya or figures such as Zhirinovsky and Putin? What of the anti-humanist ideology present in Russia that explains a degree of sacrifice for the nation? So many simple elements are missing or barely touched upon.

An incomplete documentary like this is an insult to victims in Ukraine, Chechnya, Georgia, Moldova and beyond. It is also a disservice for Russians fighting to change their country. If you want to understand Russia, I suggest Timothy Snyder. This film still has fascinating images, beautiful montage and offers a chance to learn new facts if you know more about the context of Europe and Russia. But if you are European, I suggest discovering European culture and history, learning what ties us to Ukraine and how Russia sees all of Europe as its backyard.

An invaluable resource, if not a great film

[thisisforspam579 · 5/10 · 30 October 2022]

Yes, it's 8 hours of archive footage with a few bits of text to guide you along. Yes, it does feel long.

Curtis combines his weakness for going on a bit (everything he makes is just that little bit longer than the last, until we find ourselves here) with the weakness of a genre: an almost-pure archive documentary series that attempts to show "how things really were." Or, as the series puts it, this is "what it felt like to live through the collapse of communism... AND DEMOCRACY."

The result is something doomed to be highly misleading, in that it is up to the viewer to remind themselves that these are only the clips Curtis wants to show. It is just as far away from "raw unedited FEELING" as a state news report. Regardless, it's still interesting, if mostly in a voyeuristic sense.

Who else could get access to this footage? And who are we to turn down the opportunity to watch such fascinating glimpses of a period we may never otherwise have seen? Taken as merely a curated collection of clips there's much to celebrate. But 8 hours is a long time to reflect on how much you like a film, and eyes tired of this found footage funeral dirge may begin to question why so many clips are outside of Russia, feel the absense of events unshown, doubt the text or perhaps wonder what exactly Curtis is arguing here, because it definitely feels like he's arguing something.

An absolute masterpiece

[DominosthroughAgrate · 20 November 2022]

I could lie and say I've watched every Curtis, I haven't, in honesty I've watched around 5 of his creations. Often found his work a mixture of mesmerisingly brilliant and somewhat simplistic.

What he's done here is truly impressive, and I say this as someone with a particular interest in the subject matter. For weeks friends have been telling me "I must watch the new Curtis" and "it's all the stuff you find interesting, how haven't you seen it".

I folded and turned it on, and have been thinking about it ever since.

He's somehow managed to organise (with his team) a patchwork of archival footage into one of the most hauntingly brilliant works of film. Many moments I thought, he's going to miss this thing, this moment or important reference and yet he never does.

A harrowing and important work, makes the viewer feel the absolute madness of the place and time, the visceral horror and unbelievable unfairness of it all.

Pointless mix of archive videos from Poland and USSR

[st-05075 · 1/10 · 22 October 2022]

Seriously, I was hoping to see a detailed, narrated story through the time but in reality, it turned out to be a collage of archived videos, without any story of sense. The series is called Russia but a half of episodes are from Poland. It just looks like the creator just went to Poland, got access to the old tapes, mixed it overnight and now presenting it as a masterpiece. Total waste of time, most of Youtubers do a better job, explaining historical events. The quality of the BBC's video went downhill, the TV license they so eager to chase for is not worth the quality of shows they now offer.