PUNK I: A Regular Riot

We begin a trilogy marking the punk era, then and now:
 
PUSSY RIOT: A PUNK PRAYER (B) - HBO presents this by-the-numbers documentary about the three bold woman who are taking on Vladimir Putin's "totalitarian" tactics in post-post-Soviet Russia.

The three main members of the collective -- Nadia Tolokonnikova, Masha Aliokhina and Katia Samutsevich -- were arrested in 2012 on charges of hooliganism for staging an impromptu art-punk performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It was typical of their flash-mob anarchist tactics, whose origins coincided with the return of Putin as Russian president in 2012.

Their faces masked by balaclavas (neon-colored, intended to express joy), the trio sparked worldwide controversy with their sacrilegious performance.  Filmmakers Max Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin humanize the women and allow them to express themselves. One collaborator helps out with the line "It's God's shit," and that becomes a chorus. Another title is "Putin Pissed Himself."

Katia rebels against the patriarchy's expectations of women's roles as wives and mothers. She is older and lived through the final years of the Soviet Union, eventually becoming radicalized through her study of French leftist philosophers. We're told that Nadia was raised as "a little Bolshevik" by a strong-willed grandmother and turned to conceptual art as a teenager (we see one of her art pieces in which she tries to force kisses on police officers and another called "Biology Museum," which is essentially an orgy). Relatives tell us that "unjust" was Masha's favorite word as a little girl and that she was a Spice Girls fan before turning to environmentalism as a teen.

Masha has a husband and child, and she frets about the specter of Social Services. Nadia's husband and child also appear. "Jail is not so bad for a person who thinks" and who still has a conscience and soul, Nadia proclaims from her cage surrounded by reporters, photographers and relatives.

The film is fairly even-handed. We see members of the Orthodox church bemoaning the "demon" women and staging counter-protests (while noting that in the glorious 16th century they just would have hanged or burned the women). Older Muscovites point out that the celebration of their faith is sacred, especially after having gone underground during the Soviet era.

The memories of Lenin and Stalin are always present. The filmmakers remind us of the "show trials of the 1930s that quelled insurrection, drawing a link to the Pussy Riot prosecution. The women's trial is covered extensively, as the second half of the film becomes, essentially, a courtroom procedural. The accuseds' closing statements are quite powerful, especially Masha's boast that the trio are the free ones while those serving the system and prosecuting them are the imprisoned ones.

BONUS TRACKS
Crashing the cathedral:



Peaches and pals, in solidarity: