Think the invasion of Ukraine doesn’t matter? Think again.
Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.As the stalemate between the Russian army and the freedom fighters of Ukraine continues, we’d like to take a moment here at screen gems to point out something that gets lost in most media coverage: the effect of the invasion on queer people.Russia, under the autocracy of Vladamir Putin, has a terrifying record when it comes to the persecution of LGBTQ people, in particular, gay men.
For a portrait of what Russian control would mean for the queer population of Ukraine, look no further than the neighboring Russian republic of Chechnya.Filmmaker David France documented the horrors of Putin’s gay purges in his harrowing documentary Welcome to Chechnya.
France spent several months traveling in the nation-state, as well as Russia and Eastern Europe, documenting the Rainbow Railroad; that is, an underground network of activists helping LGBTQ people escape to the Western world.
The film argues that Putin has specifically targeted the queer community in Russia as a way of consolidating his power and deflecting criticism.
