Soviet Man

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, it was home to nearly 300 million people – “Soviet people”. Was it just a propaganda myth, or did “homo sovieticus” really exist? Is it now a thing of the past? Director Ivo Briedis joins forces with journalist Rita Ruduša. Both grew up in the USSR and both feel that it left its mark, one that still shapes them. In their native Latvia, they sit down with old photos, opening the floodgates of memory. This soon takes them to family members and then to many other people from the former Soviet bloc, from Yerevan, via Moscow, to Prague and Berlin. They debate, confront the past with the present, process their own thoughts. Did the Soviet era brand us? How is this manifested? Do we want to get rid of it? And does it remain only in individuals or does it, through them, still influence the social climate? (One World)