PUSSY RIOT , A PUNK PRAYER directed by Mike Lerner & Maxim Pozdorovkin (Russia, 2012)
This HBO documentary follows the highly publicised show trial of Nadia, Masha and Katia, the three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot who were arrested for their part in the very public disruption of the holy mass at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in February 2002 and who were subsequently sentenced to three years in a penal colony.
The film opens with a quote from Bertolt Brecht: “Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it” which immediately reassures us that it will be justifiably weighted in favour of the women’s cause. Interviews with their parents help us to understand their background to the protest while humanizing their stories.
In the interest of balance, however, the filmmakers also give ample space to the case for the prosecution. There are interviews with angry members of the church wearing T-shirts proclaiming ‘ORTHODOXY OR DEATH’ who look like greying doom metal fans.
One web site once took Pussy Riot to mean “an uprising of the uterus” but an offended worshipper states on film that “deranged vaginas” would be a more apt translation.
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