Moscow 1996. Boris Yeltsin prepared to run for a second term as President of the Russian Federation. Polls were in the single digits. Facing him, the communist candidate, Gennady Zyuganov. Yeltsin nevertheless managed, against all expectations, to be re-elected with nearly 54% of the votes. How could that happen?
To win, Yeltsin embarked on a ruthless campaign with a colossal budget in which the Kremlin, the media, Russian businessmen and Western powers joined forces so that Russia would not "go back to the USSR ". Between unlikely alliances and large-scale scams, the film perfectly balances between film noir and Shakespearean tragicomedy.
Rare archives, animations and eye witness testimonies - in particular that of Tatyana Dyachenko, daughter and adviser of Yeltsin, or that of the former Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, or of the deposed oligarch Sergei Pugachev and the former President of the IMF, Michel Camdessus - take us behind the scenes of a crucial moment in history that sealed the fate of Russia and, by extension, that of the world.
Direction: Madeleine Leroyer
Production: Point du jour for ARTE France