Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Victor Khomenko (M) on March 13, 2007 at 13:05:45

In Reply to: Saw mention here of Vodka Lemon recently (from VK) and watched it last night... what a bittersweet film. posted by sjb on March 13, 2007 at 10:40:20:

Needless to say, I feel personal about films like that. I visit Russia twice a year, and I have ample chance to see people's lives. And not just in major cities, where life is bustling now. I have been to some small towns, and know life there. While I have not seen situation just as depressing as the one in that film, most people's realities are just little removed from that. You see plenty of poor people, even though life is generally better today than in the nineties.

Back in the nineties, many factories were unable to pay the workers, so instead they let them take the product they made, as part of settlement.

It was incredibly depressing to see people sitting on piles of pots and pans, by the roadside, on the major highway connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg, trying to get some money for that stuff.

They are now gone... replaced by teenage prostitutes.