27 Aug 2021 | Is it easy to be young? (SU/Latvia 1986, Juris Podnieks)

SU/Latvia 1986, D: Juris Podnieks, Doc, 83’, Orig. with Eng. subs, DCP

The documentary film IS IT EASY TO BE YOUNG? by Latvian filmmaker Juris Podnieks opened in Soviet cinemas in January 1987. He obviously had his finger on the pulse of the times – Podnieks interviews junkies, a young mother, convicts of a show trial and Afghanistan war veterans, all on eye level, and thus gives an insight into the daily struggles of the Soviet youth at the beginning of perestroika. This portrait of the generation testifies that as an individual you just cannot defeat the system. The film was a blockbuster and attracted 28 million spectators in the Soviet Union.