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Dangerous Acts Starring The Unstable Elements Of Belarus Review

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Director: Madeleine Sackler.

Starring: Pavel Gorodnitski, Nikolai Khalezin, Natalia Koliada, Vladmir Scherban.

Running Time: 76 minutes.

Synopsis: Interviews and smuggled footage tell the story of the Belarus Free Theatre, a group of actors struggling to have their voices heard in the midst of Europe’s last dictatorship.

December 19, 2010 and it’s election day in Minsk, the largest city and capital of Belarus. But you see, this is a very special event, because Belarus has the chance to free itself from sixteen years of oppression. The outcome could see the whole country’s political landscape changing forever, and for the better.

Of course, we have the benefit of hindsight. Amidst accusations of a rigged election, Alexander Lukashenko retained his presidency and stranglehold on the country. Madeleine Sackler’s compelling documentary, DANGEROUS ACTS STARRING THE UNSTABLE ELEMENTS OF BELARUS picks up the aftermath, exploring life in the ‘last dictatorship in Europe’ through the lens of resistance movement, the Belarus Free Theatre. In a society where much music is blacklisted, creativity banned and theatres state-owned, the Free Theatre operates on the underground circuit. Not even allowed a licence to perform legally, the actors risk everything for their art.

It’s easy to live under a dictator; you don’t have to think,” we’re told. However the Free Theatre refuses to be quiet, instead fighting against intimidation and censorship through what its actors do best: performance. Director and co-founder Vladmir Scherban attests to the ability of theatre to react to the moment in a way that other art forms can’t – freely, honestly and quickly. In a case of art mirroring life, we learn of kidnappings, beatings, humiliation, torture and rape. Fearing for their safety, the founding members go into hiding and exile – some to New York and others to London. Family members back in Belarus explain in hushed tones how the KGB visits on a regular basis, placing relatives and friends under surveillance. It’s a chilling and uncomfortable watch, but it’s also significant.

Sackler’s style of reportage is back-seat; unlike the Herzogs of this world there’s no directorial voiceover here. Instead we piece together our own response through a series of interviews and performance clips. The fact these had to be smuggled out of the country really brings home the danger.

However there’s skill in the narrative construction of DANGEROUS ACTS; shots of a performance piece with beating drums are interspliced with footage of the bloody handling of a protest, post-election day. The dramatic stagings themselves are intense and challenging. Even with its close-knit family scattered across the globe, the Free Theatre still manages to produce resistance art, refusing to give up. The show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is certainly a triumph in the face of almost overwhelming adversity. ‘We are a theatre. We will perform,’ we’re told. The show must go on – it must.

[usr=4] DANGEROUS ACTS is released in select UK cinemas from Friday 28 March after its UK premiere at the Human Rights Watch Festival on 20 March, 2014. Distributed by Dogwoof, you can find out more here.

Claire Joanne Huxham comes from the south-west, where the cider flows free and the air smells of manure. She teaches A-level English by day and fights crime by night. When not doing either of these things she can usually be found polishing her Star Trek DVD boxsets. And when she can actually be bothered she writes fiction and poetry that pops up on the web and in print. Her favourite film in the whole world, ever, is BLADE RUNNER.

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