In the fall of 2004 Ukraine witnessed the most truculent presidential elections in its history. The struggle involved the country's acting prime-minister Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leader Viktor Yuschenko. In order to guarantee Yanukovich's victory the authorities had organized large-scale rigging. Millions of Ukrainian citizens rose up against such injustice. On November 22nd, 2004 after the second round of elections the people massed onto Kyiv's central Independence square (the Maidan) to protest against falsifications. This was the beginning of the Orange revolution.
During the first week of the Orange revolution the Maidan was under threat – the threat of destruction. The more people came to the Maidan, the more evident was the frustration of the former authorities under President Leonid Kuchma and prime-minister Viktor Yanukovich. At their disposal they had all the means to use force and disperse the Maidan. The authorities called it cleansing. In reality it could have resulted in numerous victims and even civil war. In the end of the Maidan had triumphed. There was a revote of the second round, and opposition leader Viktor Yuschenko was victorious.
The authors of the film had tried to find the decisive moment, the turning point in the confrontation between the authorities and the opposition. This had turned out to be day seven, November 28th, when the interior forces were at full gear and ready to strike at the Maidan.
Director: Oles' Sanin; written by: Natalka Fitsich; producer: Volodymyr Ariev.
Duration: 76 min.
The movie is in Ukrainian only. It has no subtitles.
Video format - PAL.
DVD Region: 5.