The Event

August 19, 1991. The last words of a brief speech echo across the masses assembled on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg. Then, within a matter of seconds, a hundred thousand clenched fists shoot up into the air. The Russians have had enough. Seventy-five years of Communism and now yet another attempted coup aiming to depose Gorbachev and Yeltsin in Moscow – it ends now. Except it didn’t, seems to be the implicit message of this montage of images from eight cameramen moving among the huge crowds on that day. In Putin, the Russians once again accepted a strong man to rule the country with his trusted clique, winning every election with an improbably large majority. In 74 minutes, all of the emotions of that momentous day pass by: from confusion about the situation in Moscow and uncertainty about the future to unified, resolute protest. Then, a record of a current event – now, a reminder of a historical one, and of the relative nature of political convictions.