There comes a time where you have to ask yourself, what does "one sided" in a conflict where unarmed people are getting mauled, shot and kidnapped by the police means? If you want to act like a detached "expert", yes this film had a one sided narrative, but even in conflicts there are truth. There are the will of the people, the right of the people, and the necessity for everyone to be heard. If we lose that, we have lost to tyranny, to corruption, to brutalization.Let's ask all the people here giving this documentary one or two stars what they would like to hear from the other side? How the crackdown of peaceful protests were justified. Bullshit. Violence is never justified.Watch this documentary. Just do it. You won't regret it.Freedom for the people. By the people. For Ukranie!

To start with the positive: The movie is well-made, nice but sometimes really shocking and graphic pictures showing Kiev at war. I really liked the individual approach of getting to know the background stories of some of the people involved. However, and that it is why it got some points deducted - it is terribly one-sided. One has no idea how the government reacts to it or what they do to calm the situation. It would have been nice to include a local as well as a global insight into politics here. Furthermore, a link to how things are now is missing too. A simple reference in the credits on how this has developed into a division of the country would have been sufficient (at least for me).

An excellent collection of video and comments are crafted into an elegant telling - without narration - of a grassroots struggle for dignity on the main square ("Maidan" in Ukrainian) in the capital. This violent but uplifting drama is easily the best of the Maidan documentaries released thus far. Don't miss it. This film raises two very misunderstood facts about the Ukrainian revolution.First, the "re-vo-lu-tion" was triggered not by the government's reversal about joining the EU but by the brutal dispersal on Nov. 30 of peaceful pro-EU demonstrators. The next day saw the "march of the millions" protesting the president's decision to assault a non- threatening group composed mostly of college students. "Euromaidan" lasted only 10 days. On December 1 a nation arose - again peacefully - and "strong men came out to declare that no one will ever hurt children in this country." Second, protesters did not "topple" the president. Victor Yanukovich was legally removed from office by vote of the national parliament (Rada) after he fled the country. He knew that he would face criminal charges for his actions, not to mention the mind-boggling level of corruption in his government.Because this story is told by the participants - through their words and images, with excellent subtitles - it will appear to some as "biased." But a "counter-balanced" documentary would be difficult. The chronology and video testimonies are incontrovertible, and gathering opposing perspectives will be difficult because participants are unavailable. Yanukovich and his cabinet ministers are internationally wanted criminals granted asylum in Russia after they stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the country they bankrupted (the reason the government was seeking aid from European Union). The Berkut ("eagles") also mostly fled to Russia, although some later were photographed participating in the Russian takeover of Crimea.The film's portrayal corresponds with my experience during a visit mid-January. People of all social and economic backgrounds were living cheerfully under democratically established rules, chief of which was a ban on all alcohol. The "Maidan Village" was described in a London newspaper under the headline, "Ukrainians Teach Their Leaders How to Govern." Present were people from all regions, including the Donbas and Crimea. More than one-third of the people on Maidan spoke Russian as their primary language. The myth of divisions over language and ethnicity are a concocted pretense for Kremlin attempts to regain control of region called "Little Russia" for more than a century before the birth of the Soviet Union. This documentary invites you to see and meet these ordinary people and experience their extraordinary story.

As these events occurred an extremely recent history, I followed the events that took place loosely, with what I could regard as having an informed opinion of them – although not the full picture. What Winter On Fire achieves is to bring you face-to-face with the events that occurred over those months, something that it captures excellently. Hats off to all involved, and again shows how Netflix is asserting it's dominance and reputation.Beautifully edited and extremely linear, what I was impressed most with is WoF's attention to detail in showing the audience the struggles and turmoil of this dark period in Maidan. The piece really does immerse, with some very captivating hand-held shots.Winter On Fire is definitely worth the time, and am struggling not to give it a higher star rating – as far as the film goes it is brilliant. Where this film does potentially lack, however, is that it would need to include a more well-rounded view of all the surrounding events; I am aware that this film is an account of those involved, but needs more description around outside events.