Past screening

Gorbachev. Heaven

Directed by: Vitaly Mansky
Runtime: 1hr 40min Year: 2020
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Details

Directed by: Vitaly Mansky
Runtime: 1hr 40min Year: 2020
Country: Latvia, Czech Republic
Topics: History & Archive
Last Screened: Mon 2nd Aug 2021

Mikhail Gorbachev, the 90-year-old former leader of the Soviet Union, reflects on the proud achievements and the wounding struggles of his political life, opening up to veteran filmmaker Vitaly Mansky.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the 90-year-old former leader of the Soviet Union, currently lives in a modest house outside Moscow, where he has ample time to reflect on the achievements and struggles of his political life.

He was the architect of Glasnost and Perestroika, progressive policies that gave the citizens of the Soviet Union a chance to be free. He tore down the Berlin Wall. But at the same time, under his rule, the Chernobyl nuclear facility exploded, soldiers wielding shovels brutally suppressed protesters in Tbilisi and Soviet tanks killed peaceful demonstrators in Baku. The Soviet empire collapsed under him – and he was condemned by his own people.

History will no doubt judge Gorbachev, but here, opening up to veteran filmmaker Vitaly Mansky (Putin’s Witnesses, Pipeline, Motherland or Death), Gorbachev presents his own, final testimony.