On February 21, 2012, a group of young Russian women entered into Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior Orthodox Church and staged a political protest and performance art piece. They danced and sang a punk song called “Mother of God, Drive Putin Away” in revolt to the re-election of the Russian President.
This femme group is Pussy Riot, and shortly after three of the girls were arrested for “hooliganism” in a sacred place, their iconography went viral and sparked international outrage among women, musicians and political activists everywhere.
The HBO documentary “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer” chronicles their preparation, their subsequent trial and the social unrest in Russia that surrounded the investigation. And yet the band isn’t famous because a few girls don’t like Vladimir Putin. The band is iconic because they have universal beliefs and values, but the documentary wants only to cover the circus.
Members of Pussy Riot don balaclavas on their heads like ski masks and neon colored leggings underneath short dresses in the cold. They stand for women’s rights and shout about LGBT politics in their performances. Pussy Riot isn’t quite a band either; they’re a political activist group first, performing short, poorly recorded songs in high traffic areas while someone records and posts their act of rebellion online.
Mike Lerner and Max Pozdorovkin’s film shoots their preparation for these guerrilla acts like a secretive heist movie, shooting from dark attics at low angles and shaky cam doc-realism to convey their urgency and the social unrest surrounding them. It’s compelling filmmaking, and when we see the fly on the wall conversations in the courtroom that one of the girl’s fathers might be beat up by Orthodox thugs leaving the trial, there’s a true sense of nervousness at stake.
Lerner and Pozdorovkin explore the history of the three arrested women Nadia, Masha and Katia and offer them a soapbox to voice their defenses in un-edited courtroom sequences. They speak profoundly and apologetically, and the prosecution and judges are often unseen as though ignoring their pleas in a sheer act of injustice.
Unable to interview the three women directly, “A Punk Prayer” spends a lot of time with their family members and the childhoods that led to their activism. Nadia in particular made waves by filming herself having sex in a biology museum while another couple eight months pregnant did the same.
And yet how much do we really know about Pussy Riot’s politics or values?
Pussy Riot isn’t a “band” in the normal sense of the word, but they have an album called “Kill the Sexists!” that you can listen to here. They’ve been interviewed in Rolling Stone and have cited punk influences and riot grrll groups like Bikini Kill as their influences, and they sing about feminist ideologies and have participated in a banned Gay Rights rally. Even the casual “Daily Show” viewer might know about the controversy surrounding Russia’s policies with gay athletes in the upcoming Sochi Olympics.
None of this however is to be found in “A Punk Prayer.” Like “Gideon’s Army” also this year, it’s courtroom drama through and through, even missing the opportunity to convey on a visual or thematic level a rebellious, punk mentality. The film is called “A Punk Prayer,” but the filmmakers have made this a stately affair.
If you’re moved to find out more about the band after seeing this film, like I have, “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer” has done its job. But you’ll have to do some reading to find out why people like Madonna, i.e. musicians and women, truly care about Pussy Riot’s cause.
3 stars