UKRAINE ON FIRE REVIEWED
“Ukraine on Fire” made me so angry that I sat on the review for a few weeks. I took the time to see that there were a ton of Americans desperately searching for an English sourced disc of the documentary. There were even more beginning to question Oliver Stone’s involvement and how some of the facts were compiled. This documentary plays like a decade long hit job to justify Russia annexing the Ukraine. While watching the film, I felt the sudden urge to connect it to RKO’s “The North Star” aka Armored Attack.
During World War II, RKO and Warner Brothers made several works of Russian propaganda with Soviet help. These films targeted the Russian efforts to oust the Nazis from Ukraine, while never taking a second glance at Russian tactics. “The North Star” is far more famous out of the films, as it was heavily targeted and gutted into “Armored Attack” during the Red Scare of the 1950s. While the recut version is available on Blu, it’s amazing to see a propaganda film gutted to removed the original pro Russian fare. But, what does that have to do with this documentary?
Much like those old works of Propaganda, this documentary felt specifically cut to support an agenda. In the 1940s, the US was allying with Moscow to destroy the Nazis. Now, certain Right Wing elements in America are conspiring with Russia to justify the actions of the Putin regime. For 95 minutes, this documentary is a political excuse and apology tour for why Russia has the right to rebuild its Bloc states that it lost at the end of the Cold War.
Any documentary that makes an argument for overthrowing the independence of a free people is garbage to me. Much like how The North Star became Armored Attack 13 years after the fact, this documentary will not age well when the political climate shifts. Putin isn’t the kind of guy that you want to make feature documentaries explaining away why he has the right to invade neighboring nations.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Trailers
- Deleted Scenes
- Bonus Documentary
A/V STATS
- 1.78:1 1080p transfer
- Dolby 5.1
