Baala Shakya, Staff Photographer
On Wednesday, the MacMillan Center’s European Studies Council hosted the first public screening of “Don’t Talk Politics,” a thought-provoking documentary by filmmaker and director Vitaliia Babushchak that explores the global crisis of democracy.
Focusing on current geopolitical challenges, the film urges viewers to raise questions about the future of democracy, the role of truth in public discourse and the role of power dynamics in shaping the world.
Before the screening, Andrei Kureichik, who teaches the course “Art and Resistance in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine,” drew attention to the remarkability of the documentary’s creation by Babushchak, crediting her “great strength, talent and enthusiasm.”
“‘Don’t Talk Politics’ is a deeply personal film for me, coming from a country where the fight for democracy and freedom has been part of my entire life since I was born,” said Babushchak, who is also an award-winning screenwriter and poet. “I hope the voices in this film will stay with you, sparking not just reflection, but conversation, uncomfortable perhaps, but essential.”
With a core theme of the film centering around the reflection and education of democratic values, the opening scene featured a quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education” paired with the haunting din of air-raid sirens.
Central to the film’s narrative is the lens of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which serves as a backdrop for understanding broader issues of democratic backsliding.
Throughout the documentary, interviews with an array of scholars, activists and thought leaders are featured, including Yale professors Marci Shore, Andrei Kureichik and Jason Stanley, who offer their perspectives on the complex intersection of politics, media and society.
Stanley, a professor of philosophy, emphasized during his interview in the film that there is a growing power among tyrants in today’s society due to democracy’s high capacity for tolerance, which although a strength and virtue, could ultimately lead to society’s downfall as it allows for “fascists” to gain power and prosper.
“People who run for office who shouldn’t, they will win,” said Stanley, arguing that tyrants “will lie and set people against each other” and then represent themselves as the “only option.”
Scattered throughout the film are also shots and interviews of people in poverty as a direct effect of war. One such individual was Joe Comfort, a Vietnam War veteran who found himself returning from the war to homelessness.
In the end credits, it was revealed that Comfort had passed away at the time of filming “Don’t Talk Politics.”
Following the screening and a round of applause, the audience was invited to take part in a seminar-style Q&A panel with Babushchak and individuals starring in the film.
At the start of the panel, Kureichik drew attention to the fact that the film was made almost nine months ago before the U.S. presidential election.
“[The film] is like a battle, like a discussion before elections,” said Kureichik. “It adds [a] sharpness and importance to the film.”
In light of the context of when the documentary was filmed, he presented the following question to the panel: “When you watch yourselves here and other people, how [have] your feelings, your narratives, your understanding, changed because of what happened in the United States?”
“I think that my perspective on democracy has been changing many, many times throughout my
life because we were fighting for democracy and freedom in Ukraine since I was a child,” said Babushchak in response to Kureichik’s question. “Each event [in my life] changed my perspective on things and made me believe that one thing that really matters is the condition in which people live, the life they can live in a country, the choices they can do or not to do.”
Katerina Ksenyeva, an actress and political refugee who starred in the documentary, also spoke on the panel, highlighting the oppression faced by Ukrainians and Russians alike and preaching her belief in freedom for Ukraine and that Russia will repent for their actions like “Nazi Germany and Japan who destroyed Nanjing.”
“I want to say glory to Ukraine, and I believe in the Ukrainian future, no matter how, that
Ukraine will be free, sooner or later,” said Ksenyeva. “I just believe in the Ukrainian future.”
Feb. 24 marks the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.