Things were about to go from bad to worse

January 11, 2023 12:48 PM

TraumaZone: Russia 1985-1999. Here's a huge 7 part documentary series on Russia from 1985-1999. Noteworthy for exclusively using BBC film archives to show what real people were going through. There's no narration, but it's one of Adam Curtis' creations, so feel free to read the subtitles in his voice.

If you know of Curtis'earlier work you'll be familiar with the unsettling ambient drones and wild juxtapositions in editing; however it does nothing to detract from the sheer power of some of the images.

posted by pepcorn (13 comments total)

The problem with Adam Curtis is that his tone poems fail to elicit any sort of actionable insight. OK, these events are somehow correlated. What do we do now? Unless you enjoy the aesthetic of the historical record edited with a sort of despondent tone, there's neither enough entertainment or education value present to justify them.

It's doomscrolling as video art. They always have good titles, though.
posted by I EAT TAPAS at 1:49 PM on January 11, 2023 [3 favorites]

Having lived through that period of time, its surprising how many of the clips I can still remember. Its grim viewing even without the usual narration. I haven't made it past the second episode. I do kind of think younger generations should probably watch this as an example of autocracy, collapse & klept. Although, to be fair, many in the west have come to appreciate that 30 years after these events, they suffer the same type of societal collapse in slow-motion, as power & privilege continue to consolidate in an ever smaller 1% while life gets harder for pretty much everyone else amid the polycrisis.

But totally agree, this is primo doom-scroll material.
posted by phigmov at 4:02 PM on January 11, 2023 [7 favorites]

TraumaZone is right. I've watched 4 episodes and each one is more traumatic than the next. What I remember from that time is the knock-on effect of waves of Russian immigrants to NYC. I have two Russian sisters-in-law who lived through this with their families.

It's not doom-scrolling, it's history, and I think it's important to understand how grim things were, how they got better and people had hope, and how that hope has gone out the window now. OK I guess that's the definition of doom.
posted by maggiemaggie at 5:33 PM on January 11, 2023 [8 favorites]

Russian history in five words, "And then things got worse."
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 5:36 PM on January 11, 2023 [5 favorites]

This is an unfair and unhelpful critique: "The problem with Adam Curtis is that his tone poems fail to elicit any sort of actionable insight."

It's not the job of historians and observers to recommend actions. It's their job to tell a story that engages an audience, teaches them something, maybe makes connections that they wouldn't have made themselves.
posted by peterme at 7:44 PM on January 11, 2023 [25 favorites]

Thanks so much for this, I think it's fascinating. And Adam Curtis is new to me; catching up on his other documentaries now. I find his non-traditional technique quite refreshing.
posted by Rash at 8:08 PM on January 11, 2023 [1 favorite]

Adam Curtis works are worth viewing, sharing, discussing and I will watch this one like all his others, but

He isn't a Historian making Documentaries, he is critic using collages to make thought provoking PR, or to be harsher, an apologist making propoganda.
This criticism isnt unique to him, indeed it subsumes a lot of political material and I would much rather view and discuss Curtis and Chompsky than DNesh DSuza or Alex Jones.

Good thing inflation hasn't hit the grains-of-salt markets and we can spare plenty for everything.
posted by anecdotal_grand_theory at 12:45 AM on January 12, 2023

The advantage of this kind of "tone poem" is that sometimes you recognize the first few notes and realize your own society is producing a cover version.
posted by srboisvert at 4:13 AM on January 12, 2023 [7 favorites]

Pepcor, thanks for posting. Curtis is new to me too and I’m finding his work fascinating.
posted by lumpy at 11:43 AM on January 12, 2023

This late-cum-post-Soviet footage is fascinating. Some of the imagery is familiar from growing up in Cold War United States, but it goes so much further and deeper. The lack of narration makes it even more compelling. AAAAAA+++++ would glasnost again!
posted by slogger at 11:59 AM on January 12, 2023

I'm sorry. Massive fan of Adam Curtis but it just wasn't the same without the voiceover.

I think I read somewhere that he got a bit self conscious about it- I've certainly seen enough Twitter humour referencing Adam Curtis voiceovers as a trope but nevertheless, didn't enjoy it as much.
Shame, given his last one was as good as anything he's done before.
posted by treblekicker at 2:53 PM on January 12, 2023

I disagree, I think he's matured as a filmmaker. I know he is aware of this parody and he seemed to take it in good humour, so I hope he's not taken it too much to heart.

I have personally found some of his conclusions and connections to be a bit spurious and heavy-handed at times, but these films were truer to the adage "show, don't tell" and I think they were better for it.

If you don't watch all of it (I binged it the night it was released) then at least watch this bit about the horse that didn't want to go to Britain (who can blame it?) and let's not forget that time that Yeltsin ordered tanks to fire at the parliament building. In case you think your own country's political discourse is bad.

My favourite interviewee though was Natasha, the girl who begs for money on the streets. She might be the hero of the piece. This interview and above all this last clip (in which she chastises the filmmakers for not paying her) were the highlights for me. I really hope things got better for her.
posted by Acey at 6:39 PM on January 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes I'd love to see an update on Natasha, where is she now?

Another detail was the development of the Russian National Anthem, a loose end which really needs tying up. What was that horrible music they could never fit with lyrics? Why was it chosen? By who? Irrelevant now, since Putin discarded it, replaced with the Soviet Union's anthem (with updated lyrics). It's one of the best anthems, no question; but I'm surprised there was no pushback when it was resurrected. That tune goes back to Stalin, his "Life Has Become Better" words made into the lyrics of the Hymn of the Bolsheviks.

The most interesting aspects of the TraumaZone for me were, in

• part 2, the Restricted Books library, the opening of the Moscow McDonalds, and the Intensification 90 program (mainframes to the rescue!)
• the end of part 3 for the very end of the Soviet Union,
• and part 6. The parallels between Chechnya then and Ukraine now so obvious; plus the Vogue experiment, which just ended last year.

I remember certain pieces of this story as they were happening but these films fill in the gaps and tie them all together into a devastating whole. Best of the Web for sure!
posted by Rash at 10:37 AM on January 16, 2023