Refusenik

It's astounding to think a mere two decades ago, before the Iron Curtain fell, 1.5 million Jews living in the former Soviet Union were unable to emigrate to their country of choice. How that reprehensible fact came to be and the 30-year international human rights struggle that followed, is stirringly chronicled in Laura Bialis' documentary "Refusenik."
Packed with an extraordinary amount of archival material, the film offers a fascinating, if occasionally dense look at a grass-roots movement that became the world's chance to retroactively fight Hitler's Holocaust. Bialis is blessed with an array of interview subjects here, from such notably persecuted "Refuseniks" (Soviet Jews refused exit visas) as Anatoly Shcharansky, Vladimir Slepak and ex-Kirov Ballet dancer Valery Panov, to the largely American college students (including L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky), housewives and community leaders who became activists on their behalf. The filmmaker even sits down with former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev, who still seems conflicted over the unthinkable Communist policy that crumbled under his regime, after worldwide pressure led by the Reagan administration. "Refusenik" passionately reminds that the mantra "Never again!" must never be forgotten.
Da The Los Angeles Times, 23 maggio 2008