The Operation

Germany | 2007 | 37 Minutes

Russia in 2007: a country on the road to a police state and dictatorship.

A small Siberian town is the victim of a brutal police raid lasting 4 days. Nobody knows why. The film traces the reasons and consequences of the events and, focusing on the small town of Blagoveschensk, shows a conflict that is affecting the whole of Russia today: politics on the way to a police state – citizens on the way to civil society.

When the OMON special task force pulls up in front of the “Pharaoh” bar in the centre of Blagoveschensk, a town of 30,000 inhabitants, on Saturday, 10 December 2004, it is eyed curiously by the queuing shoppers from the nearby kiosk. The reactions are all the more irritated when, 5 minutes later, all the male visitors to the bar are brutally beaten into the lorry, along with a few of the most curious onlookers themselves.

The film traces the various portrayals of the events and – giving both sides a voice – shows the “cold war” between the fronts that is still smouldering a year later. Interviews, archive material and observations create a picture of a small Russian town that is typical in many respects. The example shows how the political leadership, in growing fear of a possible “velvet”, “orange” or “pink” revolution in its own country, is taking increasingly repressive action against its own citizens. The film observes the protagonists of the conflict – without condemning them – as they choose between adaptation and civil courage.

Credits

Editor: Ralf Ilgenfritz
Music: Die Vierte Variante
Production Company: TIME PRINTS