I just finished reading Red Notice by Bill Browder.
His true story about high financial dealings in Russia is a real page
turner. His explanation about the fall
of communism to capitalism to the rise of oligarchs is a rich history
lesson. At the end of the book, Mr.
Browder writes about Russia today: “A
place where lies reign supreme. A place
where two and two is still five, white is still black, and up is still
down. A place where convictions are
certain, and guilt a given…. This is
Russia today.”
The end of his book made me immediately think about
the documentary film Forgive Me, Sergei
and the scenes that were filmed in Russia—the parts where every Russian
interviewed claimed that Sergei Kourdakov was a fraud. I was unconvinced. Especially when Sergei’s “brother” talked
about him.
Sergei Kourdakov told everyone publicly that his
brother was dead. In a quieter moment with
me, he reflected that he hadn’t seen his older brother or heard from him since
he was a little boy and that he was sure his brother had been killed. Yet, in the documentary the person claiming
to be Sergei’s brother never mentioned that fact.
There are some excellent parts in the documentary
film. And there are parts that should be
considered carefully. I wouldn’t write-off
Sergei Kourdakov’s book “The Persecutor”
based solely on the movie.
Wow, that quote from "Red Notice" is quite fascinating to me, and also your observations on the documentary and the interviewees. That brings to mind what got me started on Russian history, which happened to be a funny coincidence- I have been mistaken for Russian a time or two, right after my family moved to our current home. I didn't understand why. I found out later that all those "Canadians" I heard when I was little were actually Slavics- we live in a community that mainly consists of Americans and Slavics. That lead me to pursue and want to know more about our Slavic community and why they were here- what brought the Russians to our area? What I found has really surprised me, and continues to surprise me, is that Russia is still a very unsafe, scary and foreboding place. Whereas I'd thought the collapse of the Soviet Union had brought a change in the country, I learned from the Russian immigrants that "Old country is still not good." This ultimately lead me to research why the Soviet mindset hadn't disappeared, leading to Soviet history research and eventually to Sergei's book on the KGB persecution of Christians. Russia and the Russians continue to impact my area phenomenally and I believe that eventually everyone else will wake up to what's going on there, too. I don't remember where I read it, but a quote that comes to mind by a Russian journalist in Moscow went something like this, "As long as the Russians refuse to acknowledge the fact that they were, in fact, Communists and Soviets, that part of them will always remain rooted in their country. Because if you don't acknowledge a problem or a mistake, you will keep committing it over and over again."
ReplyDeleteProvoking blog post. Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed this!
I agree Emily, the quote at the end of “Red Notice” is fascinating. I highly recommend “Red Notice” for anyone researching Russia today. I am so glad your research led you to find “A Rose for Sergei” - my book and blog about Sergei Kourdakov. Thanks for sharing your quote also. Very interesting.
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