WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE DOCUMENTARY
Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET
PREMIERE: This documentary begins streaming today on Netflix – though, at least for now, you have to search for it by title, because it isn’t being displayed prominently the morning of its launch. Maybe it’s because it’s a subtitled political documentary about the rise of civil unrest in the Ukraine against its oppressive leader and police force. Because it unfolds day by day, and uses multiple camera views (as well as eyewitness accounts) to capture the growing protests against isolation from Europe and the brutality of police against students, Winter of Fire is captivating, and doesn’t need subtitles to get its message across. It’s like watching civil rights footage from the Southern U.S. during the 1950s and 1960s, or barricaded French resisters immortalized in Les Miserables – except this was just last year, half a world away, and people are still fighting for many of the same ideals: among them, freedom and human dignity.