HOMO SOVIETICUS
Ivo Briedis / Latvia, Czech Republic / 2020 / 71 min
Almost 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union the regalia and rhetoric of the totalitarian era is making a comeback . Could it be possible that its raise is aided by the masterfully manipulated Homo Sovieticus in our heads? The director of the film Ivo Briedis and journalist Rita Ruduša both born in USSR are going on a journey to find out what really is this phenomenon of “Homo Sovieticus”, are they themselves Homo Sovieticus and are the totalitarian minds unique only to the post-Soviet territories. On their quest they meet the people who are longing for the good soviet times, they interview experts who have researched the phenomenon of Homo Sovieticus and totalitarianism and they meet four participants of a 1991 TV show that in the Central Television in Moscow brought together youngsters from the fifteen Soviet Republics to ask how they see their future in Soviet Union. With the help of the protagonists - participants of that historic TV show who after the Soviet Union collapsed made their careers in newly restored independed states, the director of the film is mapping the symptoms of a totalitarian mind around us and also within.
About the film
Almost 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union the regalia and rhetoric of the totalitarian era is making a comeback . Could it be possible that its raise is aided by the masterfully manipulated Homo Sovieticus in our heads? The director of the film Ivo Briedis and journalist Rita Ruduša both born in USSR are going on a journey to find out what really is this phenomenon of “Homo Sovieticus”, are they themselves Homo Sovieticus and are the totalitarian minds unique only to the post-Soviet territories. On their quest they meet the people who are longing for the good soviet times, they interview experts who have researched the phenomenon of Homo Sovieticus and totalitarianism and they meet four participants of a 1991 TV show that in the Central Television in Moscow brought together youngsters from the fifteen Soviet Republics to ask how they see their future in Soviet Union. With the help of the protagonists - participants of that historic TV show who after the Soviet Union collapsed made their careers in newly restored independed states, the director of the film is mapping the symptoms of a totalitarian mind around us and also within.