Flashes of Freedom
It took only a few months from the Prague Spring to the Soviet tanks. In August 1968, Jan Palach was 20 years old, studying history and economics. At the same time, Vasyl Makukh was 40; he fought against the Red Army and spent ten years in the GULAG camps. Ryszard Siwiec was 59, a former member of Armia Krajowa and father of five children. Eliyahu Rips was 20, a brilliant participant in an international maths Olympiad. Despite their different backgrounds, they all chose the same tragic way of defying the regime.
The desperate acts of self-immolation in protest against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops, which shook the societies of the socialist countries more than half a century ago, are shocking and leave many questions unanswered that are still relevant today. By exploring historical facts through the life stories of the protagonists, the film's authors seek to answer the main questions about the causes and consequences of the acts of protest and the impact of these acts on the protagonists' families and friends.
The desperate acts of self-immolation in protest against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops, which shook the societies of the socialist countries more than half a century ago, are shocking and leave many questions unanswered that are still relevant today. By exploring historical facts through the life stories of the protagonists, the film's authors seek to answer the main questions about the causes and consequences of the acts of protest and the impact of these acts on the protagonists' families and friends.