AllMovie

Recalling the accusations of malfeasance that plagued the late 2000 U.S. presidential election - only with a heightened intensity quotient - the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine buckled beneath the weight of roundly-suspected fraud. In that political bout, two candidates - Victor Yanukovich, heir to the unpopular outgoing prime minister, and Victor Yushchenko, a far more popular figure generally perceived as pro-western and pro-European Union - went head-to-head with one another. Yanukovich's official victory raised the ire of millions of Ukranians, who recalled the reported foul play of Yanukovich's predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, including corruption and possible involvement in the murder of a journalist he branded as unfavorable. Many inevitably perceived a link between those alleged crimes and Yanukovich's election, arguing that Kuchma deliberately set up Yanukovich's victory to guarantee political immunity for himself. With his documentary Orange Winter, Ukrainian filmmaker Andrei Zagdansky travels to Kiev for a firsthand look at the events that followed, including the most aggressive and widespread protests in the country's history, and speculates on the state of Kiev's future in light of Yanukovich's appointment to the said post.