TOY SOLDIERS (Russia, 2016-17)

This work does not illustrate a definitive difference between binaries such as nationalism/patriotism, mythology/history, indoctrination/education. Rather, the approach is to intentionally cause further confusion about our allegiances, in an attempt to re-examine our relationship to our beliefs surrounding what ties us to our collective identity.

But it also fails. It keeps building altars at dead ends. The contradictions take over. The dance can be hypnotic, both violent and romantic. And the theater of contributing characters and storylines are caught in a dialectic that sometimes illuminates counter-narratives, and sometimes sinks into old myths and stereotypes.

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