The Sedona International Film Festival presents the Sedona premiere of the new documentary “Meeting Gorbachev,” showing Friday, May 24 through Wednesday, May 29, at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre.
Werner Herzog and André Singer’s riveting documentary “Meeting Gorbachev” provides incredible access to, arguably, the world’s greatest living politician.
Now 87 and battling illness, Mikhail Gorbachev, former General Secretary of the U.S.S.R, has mellowed and slowed down. Still, he is pushing towards his goals.
Herzog, as on-screen interviewer, does not disguise his affection, celebrating Gorbachev’s three accomplishments: Negotiations with the U.S. to reduce nuclear weapons, cessation of Soviet control of Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. All of this in six years.
One German diplomat sums up Gorbachev’s approach: “The process went so quickly that … opponents were overcome by the reality of the situation.”
Herzog and Singer remind us of the drastic and unforeseeable way the world changes.
“Meeting Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev three times over a six-month period was a fascinating and enlightening experience,” Herzog said. “Here was a man who changed the course of the 20th century and whose actions transformed the world I grew up in; yet in Moscow, I found a somewhat tragic and lonely figure, surrounded by people who blamed him for the loss of the Soviet Union and for not fulfilling the promises of perestroika and glasnost that he had hoped would improve their lives.
“Our conversations were frank and wide-ranging, from his anger over the lack of progress over nuclear arms reduction that he had initiated with Ronald Reagan to personal tragedies such as the loss of his beloved wife Raisa in 1999. Showtimes will be 7 p.m. on Friday, Sunday and Monday, May 24, 26 and 27; and 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 28 and 29.
Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. Call 282-1177 or visit sedonafilmfestival.org for tickets. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. SR 89A in West Sedona.
