100 minutes / Color
Russian / English subtitles
Release: 2021
Copyright: 2020
GORBACHEV. HEAVEN finds acclaimed director Vitaly Mansky (UNDER THE SUN) at home with a man who helped to shape the 20th-century: Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Soviet leader was acclaimed as the architect of Glasnost and Perestroika, policies that gave the citizens of the Soviet Union—what Ronald Reagan called “the Evil Empire”—a chance to be free. He even tore down the Berlin Wall.
But at the same time, under his rule, the Chernobyl nuclear facility exploded and its destruction was concealed. Citizens demanding independence in the Baltic states died. Soldiers wielding shovels brutally suppressed protesters in Tbilisi. Soviet tanks killed peaceful demonstrators in Baku. Under Gorbachev, the Soviet empire collapsed. He is now condemned by his own people.
This intimate portrait finds Gorbachev living alone in an empty house outside Moscow, still carrying the burdens of his past.
“Moving, insightful. [Along with] 'Under the Sun' and 'Putin’s Witnesses,' [this film seals Mansky's] reputation as one of the most essential working documentarians — with gutsy bravado to match his delicate formal finesse.” —Variety
“Underpinned by good journalistic rigour. A valuable historical account of the former president of the Soviet Union’s latter-day perspectives on the great global transformations he took part in at the time of the country’s dissolution.” —Cineuropa
“A lyrical portrait of a former political giant in his twilight years, Vitaly Mansky’s 'Gorbachev . Heaven' is an unusually intimate docu-memoir that feels like an epitaph.” —Hollywood Reporter
“Inquisitive, elegiac; a humanistic portrait.” —Eye for Film
“Mansky [digs] into the history and motivations of the man... for those who lived through the period of history that belongs to Mikhail Gorbachev and the dissolution of the Soviet Empire, or who study it, there is much value here.” —It's Just Movies
“An excellent, excellent film. Wily indeed; [yet, in the film, Gorbachev] is also clear about his own political evolution, and his intentions in specific decisions that he made.” —KPCC’s FilmWeek
“An important portrait of a leader who contemplates his life’s work, his love, and his legacy.” —EMRO
Select Accolades
Director Vitaly Mansky ("Under the Sun") documents Russian President Vladimir Putin's rise to power.
Vitaly Mansky | 2021 | 102 minutes | Color | Russian | English subtitles
Why do so many Russians still defend Stalin as a great leader and a hero? Russians speak openly about Joseph Stalin and their traumas, rooted in a violent history.
Jessica Gorter | 2018 | 90 minutes | Color | Russian | English subtitles
A fascinating portrait of one North Korean girl and her parents in the year as she prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on Kim Jong-Il's birthday.
Vitaly Mansky | 2016 | 110 minutes | Color | English; Korean | English subtitles
