Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer

Is the case of Pussy Riot proof of the power of the state, or does it show how easily even the most rigid regime can be shaken to the core? This group of feminist punks who staged a protest in a Moscow cathedral, only for three of them to be arrested and sentenced to two years in prison, has become synonymous with global resistance. But this superb doc shows how unprepared the collective were for the ferocity of Putin’s wrath: they thought they were just staging an art piece, albeit a highly confrontational one. So the film isn’t just about protest or corruption in Russia, it’s also about how organisations and individuals react to art, especially when it isn’t packaged in a familiar fashion. The story is powerful, the people and battlelines brilliantly drawn. But ‘A Punk Prayer’ is more than just a record of events. It asks important questions about liberty, conscience and creativity.