Film: Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer

Director: Mike Lerner, Maxim Pozdorovkin
Genre: Documentary
Source: Russia? (2013)
Rating: NR (probably R)
Location/Format: HBO
Grade: C+

I remember when the theatrically named Pussy Riot case was all over the news last year, but I never really followed it very closely. Some on Reddit and other sites praised them, some criticized them as little girls playing dress up. Some laughed, some venerated. But I was glad HBO films picked up this documentary to allow a little more exploration of what the group (are they a band? An art collective? A political action group? A feminist campaign? Anarchists?) is all about. Though I would have appreciated a little more exploration of the impact of their activities (after the trial and imprisonment, I mean), I feel as though Lerner and Pozdorovkin do a pretty competent job sitting back and letting the major actors speak for themselves. 

Musical and artistic quality aside, I think the documentary touches on (though not as fully as it could have) an issue that affects both Russia and the US, though in different ways: the connection between church and state, and how to manage it. In the US, of course, separation of church and state is built into the constitution--there can be no national religion. On the other hand, Christianity is clearly the dominant religion in our culture, and in its name plenty of things--both terrible and wonderful--happen in society today. However much culture warriors may antagonize non-Christians, we do have a fundamental freedom of religion that protects free speech and freedom of belief in a variety of meaningful ways. Whether the freedoms of believers, non-believers, and non-Christian believers can be authentically protected at the same time continues to be a challenge, but with luck it is an issue that the nation will continue to debate and value.

Russia's history is not so straightforward. Religion was outlawed in the early days of the Communist takeover, and so as a religious believer I sympathize with those believers who had to hide their faith underground for seventy years, and who are perhaps justifiably angry and Pussy Riot's disrespectful cathedral-storming performance. On the other hand, the punishment with which the band's acts are met (a misdemeanor at most, according to one lawyer) does indicate a relationship between church and state that could sway too far the other direction and lean toward the establishment of a state-sponsored religion. My knowledge of Russian law, politics, and religion is too murky to fully grasp the indications (such as Putin's connections to the Orthodox church, for example) and the documentary doesn't really make them clear.

What it does draw is a portrait of political protesters who seem to have some basis for their concerns and who may be the beginning of a movement towards further freedom or further oppression in Russia. This case really does say something about the current state of Russian political culture . . . I just wish it was a little more clear about what that is.

Alternate Film Title: "Now I Know What a Balaclava Is"