WEBVTT

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(fireworks exploding)

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(water lapping)

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(fireworks whistling, popping)

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(squeaking)

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♪

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I was born in
the Soviet Union.

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When I was little,

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I didn\'t understand how,
as well as my real grandfather,

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I could have another one, Lenin,

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because Lenin apparently
was the grandfather

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of all the children
of the Soviet Union.

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At school, we were told

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that we were the happiest
children in the world.

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We were pioneers,

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we wanted to join
the Komsomol,

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the Young Communist League,

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and we really did believe
we were the happiest.

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It was only much later

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that I realized that
since my very earliest years,

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I had, in fact,
been living a double life,

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as had all my fellow citizens.

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We were a very particular
specimen of the human race

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sometimes called
\"Homo Sovieticus.\"

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♪

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♪

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I\'ve traveled across
the former USSR

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from Riga to Kiev

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via Saint Petersburg,
Moscow, and Siberia

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in this country in which they
said that sex didn\'t exist.

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I wanted to understand how,
in this double life,

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the instinct to reproduce
had managed to survive,

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how it had been repressed
and exploited.

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I wanted to know
what had happened to sex

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during the Soviet Union\'s
70-year existence.

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I met not only specialists
of this thorny question

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but all sorts
of other people too.

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Let us, however,
start at the beginning.

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(rhythmic ticking)

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♪

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In fact, not many people
know that the USSR

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was the first country
in the world

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to decree equality
between men and women.

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♪

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The driving force
behind this measure

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was Lenin\'s wife,
Nadezhda Krupskaya,

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who, as a Militant,

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had been given
a rather unflattering nickname

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likening her to a...toad.

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Lenin referred affectionately
to his wife

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as a comrade combatant,

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but he was more smitten
by another woman,

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the beautiful feminist,
Inessa Armand,

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whom he\'d known in Paris

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where she lived
with her husband.

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It seems fair to deduce, then,

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that the germ
of the double life

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sprouted before the Revolution.

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♪

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♪

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At first,
everything was wonderful.

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Communists had nothing to hide.

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Everything belonged
to everyone,

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including the beauty
of the human body

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which it was fine
to expose everywhere you liked,

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especially to other Communists.

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(splashing)

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(crickets chirring)

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♪

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Artists, who in general
like anything new,

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were particularly appreciative

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of the \"Down with Shame\"
movement

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for which the poet Mayakovsky
was a keen spokesperson.

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Eulogizing the Revolution on
his tours through the provinces,

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he would appear in the company

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of young women
naked but for a sash

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bearing the inscription,
\"Down with Shame.\"

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♪

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Mayakovsky was madly in love
with Lilya Brik

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with whom he lived
along with her husband Osip.

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A love triangle
which shocked no one,

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as is evidenced
by the Soviet film,

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\"Ménage à Trois,\"
which was made in the 1920s.

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♪

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♪

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In those days,
the law allowed anyone

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to pop down to the town hall
at any time

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and record a marriage,

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and then get divorced
an hour later

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if you felt like it.

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♪

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♪

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And people did start
to live this way,

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all together
in communal houses

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where everything
was done in common,

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including chatting
about current events

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while queuing to use
the house\'s only bathroom.

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♪

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Clothes were shared,

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even underwear.

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Such fundamental issues
were debated

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in the Soviet press.

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♪

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♪

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Sexual activity
was in full swing

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and people were procreating
with passion and enthusiasm.

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The double life
had not yet begun.

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♪

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But very soon,
half the country had syphilis

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or some other sexually
transmitted disease

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and there was a growing number
of abandoned children.

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♪

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In the end,
Lenin declared that youngsters

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should not be wasting all
their wonderful energy on sex

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but should be employing it
in the service

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of building Communism,

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and, having said that,

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he died.

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♪

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(squeaking)

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♪

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Stalin took up
the question of sexuality,

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treating it very seriously.

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To establish his power,
he banned everything.

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Psychoanalysis,
masturbation,

00:13:28.709 --> 00:13:32.458
adultery, abortion,
and homosexuality

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were all henceforth illegal.

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The human body no longer
had anything to do with sex.

00:13:38.375 --> 00:13:40.709
From now on,
it was committed exclusively

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to hard work, sport,
and the building of Communism.

00:13:45.041 --> 00:13:46.000
But the elite of the Kremlin

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continued to live
according to their own rules.

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They didn\'t give up sex.

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In particular,
the Party leaders

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had a penchant
for actresses and dancers

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who were discreetly
whisked away to them

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after the show.

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♪

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(marching footsteps)

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Free love was quickly
forgotten about,

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like all the other
illusions of the Marxists.

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♪

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Everything was replaced
by the cult of Stalin.

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♪

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And the cult of sport,

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which, from then on,

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was the only opportunity
for stripping off.

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♪

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(applause, cheering)

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This double life
spread at an incredible rate.

00:15:29.125 --> 00:15:32.208
Naked or not,
people lived on very little

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and it was at this time
that the mythical vision

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of \"the healthy life\"
first appeared.

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A fantasy, widely disseminated
through official propaganda.

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Fictional films
and documentaries alike

00:15:43.917 --> 00:15:48.125
were full of images
of smiling people in sportswear.

00:15:48.125 --> 00:15:49.583
At the same time
in the Kremlin,

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they were enjoying
different kinds of film

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imported from the West--

00:15:53.917 --> 00:15:55.917
war movies or erotic films--

00:15:55.917 --> 00:15:58.750
to keep the leaders happy.

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♪

00:16:59.667 --> 00:17:09.917
♪

00:17:28.750 --> 00:17:30.041
People are what they are

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and the authorities
understood this.

00:17:32.417 --> 00:17:34.625
It was why they launched
the production

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of the first Soviet condoms,

00:17:36.250 --> 00:17:40.999
the use of which
was not without problems.

00:18:32.041 --> 00:18:34.417
♪

00:18:34.417 --> 00:18:36.834
The rigors
of the Stalinist regime

00:18:36.834 --> 00:18:39.583
continued until 1953,

00:18:39.583 --> 00:18:40.375
and during all this time

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there was officially
no sex in the USSR.

00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:47.625
But all this started to change
after Stalin\'s death.

00:18:47.625 --> 00:18:52.917
♪

00:19:28.583 --> 00:19:36.333
♪

00:19:36.333 --> 00:19:38.792
(chatter)

00:19:38.792 --> 00:19:41.041
♪

00:19:41.041 --> 00:19:42.208
The Thaw.

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Hearts were warming up,

00:19:44.041 --> 00:19:44.917
as were bodies.

00:19:44.917 --> 00:19:47.333
You couldn\'t really talk
about freedom yet.

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Let\'s say a certain
sense of relief.

00:19:50.166 --> 00:19:54.667
You could, at least,
live and love without fear.

00:19:54.667 --> 00:19:56.750
The women became more feminine

00:19:56.750 --> 00:19:59.208
and the men more jolly.

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♪

00:20:02.999 --> 00:20:06.125
(sewing machine clicking)

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♪

00:21:00.083 --> 00:21:05.166
At 1957\'s World Festival
of Youth and Students,

00:21:05.166 --> 00:21:06.750
the inconceivable happened.

00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:09.250
For the first time,
the Iron Curtain parted,

00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:15.667
letting in 34,000 youngsters
from 131 countries.

00:21:15.667 --> 00:21:25.917
♪

00:21:36.667 --> 00:21:38.583
♪

00:21:38.583 --> 00:21:40.542
For the first time,
young Soviets

00:21:40.542 --> 00:21:43.625
got a taste of love
from foreign lands.

00:21:43.625 --> 00:21:44.458
In the warm evenings,

00:21:44.458 --> 00:21:48.417
Moscow\'s parks
filled with cosmopolitan couples

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and the air of the capital

00:21:49.333 --> 00:21:53.417
throbbed to the rhythm
of their amorous activities.

00:21:53.417 --> 00:21:55.625
And the following year
saw an upsurge

00:21:55.625 --> 00:21:58.792
in the number of births
of babies of mixed race

00:21:58.792 --> 00:22:02.083
which came to be called
\"festival babies.\"

00:22:02.083 --> 00:22:04.208
(babies crying)

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♪

00:22:07.375 --> 00:22:10.417
The festival
also introduced Muscovites

00:22:10.417 --> 00:22:11.208
to other novelties.

00:22:11.208 --> 00:22:14.834
For example, it was
the first time Soviet women

00:22:14.834 --> 00:22:19.667
had seen the truly modern wonder
of tights.

00:22:35.542 --> 00:22:41.125
♪

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Whatever pleasures the Festival
of Youth may have brought,

00:23:26.667 --> 00:23:29.750
sex remained taboo.

00:23:29.750 --> 00:23:32.625
And the authorities
continued to censor

00:23:32.625 --> 00:23:33.500
the world of the arts,

00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:38.667
as we can see from
this news footage of Khrushchev.

00:23:38.875 --> 00:23:39.709
Clearly most annoyed

00:23:39.709 --> 00:23:43.667
with these
modern artist fellows.

00:23:57.875 --> 00:23:59.250
During the Khrushchev era,

00:23:59.250 --> 00:24:02.625
the persecution of homosexuals
increased.

00:24:02.625 --> 00:24:04.667
Rummaging through an old attic,

00:24:04.667 --> 00:24:05.917
historian Aigars Redovic

00:24:05.917 --> 00:24:10.000
found a cardboard box
full of private notebooks

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.250
of a gay judge.

00:24:11.250 --> 00:24:12.667
They provide
a unique insight

00:24:12.667 --> 00:24:17.250
into the secret life
of homosexuals in the USSR.

00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:18.291
Scenes of private life--

00:24:18.291 --> 00:24:22.250
the suffering, the persecution,
secret trysts--

00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:24.834
it\'s all in these notebooks.

00:24:24.834 --> 00:24:26.041
These people were afraid,

00:24:26.041 --> 00:24:30.458
but they still tried to live out
their sexuality.

00:25:57.709 --> 00:25:58.125
♪

00:25:58.125 --> 00:26:00.083
Homosexuals had to stay hidden,

00:26:00.083 --> 00:26:02.999
and so used all kinds
of secret nicknames.

00:26:02.999 --> 00:26:08.999
Since 1934, homosexuality
had been a capital offense.

00:26:20.583 --> 00:26:27.375
♪

00:27:05.166 --> 00:27:07.208
We were still being told
we were living

00:27:07.208 --> 00:27:08.917
in the happiest country
on Earth,

00:27:08.917 --> 00:27:11.208
but in reality,
the average citizen

00:27:11.208 --> 00:27:14.417
lacked the most basic
foodstuffs.

00:27:14.417 --> 00:27:24.667
♪

00:27:37.625 --> 00:27:39.875
At the same time
in the Kremlin,

00:27:39.875 --> 00:27:41.625
the living was easy.

00:27:41.625 --> 00:27:43.500
(fireworks exploding)

00:27:53.834 --> 00:27:54.625
During these years,

00:27:54.625 --> 00:27:58.000
although sex didn\'t
officially exist in the USSR,

00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:01.166
in Novokuznetsk,
in far-flung Siberia,

00:28:01.166 --> 00:28:02.917
photographer
Nikolai Bakharev

00:28:02.917 --> 00:28:05.041
was documenting
the private lives

00:28:05.041 --> 00:28:07.208
of ordinary Soviet citizens,

00:28:07.208 --> 00:28:07.917
warts and all.

00:28:07.917 --> 00:28:10.125
He never imagined
that 30 years later

00:28:10.125 --> 00:28:14.625
his work would be exhibited in
the most prestigious galleries

00:28:14.625 --> 00:28:16.375
around the world.

00:28:16.375 --> 00:28:17.583
As he himself has said,

00:28:17.583 --> 00:28:21.625
the unvarnished truth
is always the best.

00:28:21.625 --> 00:28:28.083
♪

00:28:32.750 --> 00:28:42.999
♪

00:29:17.709 --> 00:29:24.583
♪

00:30:06.999 --> 00:30:17.208
♪

00:31:05.875 --> 00:31:07.250
In the Soviet Union,

00:31:07.250 --> 00:31:08.250
during all these years,

00:31:08.250 --> 00:31:12.375
the only means of contraception,
if you can call it that,

00:31:12.375 --> 00:31:14.333
was abortion.

00:31:14.333 --> 00:31:16.750
♪

00:31:46.750 --> 00:31:52.375
♪

00:31:52.375 --> 00:31:55.500
Official propaganda
cultivated the image

00:31:55.500 --> 00:31:58.375
of the strong Soviet woman.

00:31:58.375 --> 00:32:00.959
♪

00:32:19.542 --> 00:32:29.792
♪

00:32:37.875 --> 00:32:40.417
The image of the strong,
all-powerful woman

00:32:40.417 --> 00:32:45.125
was naturally passed on
through state-sanctioned art.

00:32:45.125 --> 00:32:45.750
♪

00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:49.166
Here, women
could be portrayed naked,

00:32:49.166 --> 00:32:50.792
could even be eroticized,

00:32:50.792 --> 00:32:53.083
as long as
they were holding a shovel,

00:32:53.083 --> 00:32:56.333
a pneumatic drill,
or a javelin.

00:32:56.333 --> 00:32:58.375
♪

00:32:58.375 --> 00:33:00.917
They had to display
all the attributes

00:33:00.917 --> 00:33:03.625
of an athlete or a worker.

00:33:03.625 --> 00:33:07.417
♪

00:33:14.250 --> 00:33:24.500
♪

00:33:46.625 --> 00:33:56.875
♪

00:33:59.875 --> 00:34:01.458
To settle a domestic dispute,

00:34:01.458 --> 00:34:04.458
women could go to
the Party\'s local committee

00:34:04.458 --> 00:34:06.125
where they could lodge
a complaint

00:34:06.125 --> 00:34:11.125
about their drunken
or unfaithful husband.

00:34:45.625 --> 00:34:50.375
♪

00:35:06.750 --> 00:35:09.500
Jurgis Liepnieks
decided to search

00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:11.999
through the archives
of the Party committee

00:35:11.999 --> 00:35:14.208
in the hope of shedding
some light

00:35:14.208 --> 00:35:15.750
on the fate of his father,

00:35:15.750 --> 00:35:16.875
a Party member and editor

00:35:16.875 --> 00:35:19.792
for a large publisher
of children\'s books.

00:35:19.792 --> 00:35:22.583
He wanted to divorce
because he loved another woman,

00:35:22.583 --> 00:35:26.041
the woman who was
to become Jurgis\' mother.

00:35:26.041 --> 00:35:29.250
It was a divorce
that was to have an impact

00:35:29.250 --> 00:35:31.750
on his career.

00:35:38.333 --> 00:35:48.583
♪

00:37:35.333 --> 00:37:39.500
♪

00:37:39.500 --> 00:37:42.458
Seeing these shelves
crammed with archives,

00:37:42.458 --> 00:37:46.000
I wonder how many accounts
of ruined destinies,

00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:49.250
wrecked careers,
and humiliated people

00:37:49.250 --> 00:37:51.125
they hold.

00:37:51.125 --> 00:37:56.875
♪

00:39:03.125 --> 00:39:13.375
♪

00:40:14.417 --> 00:40:17.041
♪

00:40:17.041 --> 00:40:20.000
There was just one
very big problem:

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:25.250
Where could this form
of protest express itself?

00:41:04.417 --> 00:41:07.500
♪

00:41:07.500 --> 00:41:10.166
One characteristic
about the Soviet Union

00:41:10.166 --> 00:41:13.667
was that most couples
got married very soon

00:41:13.667 --> 00:41:16.792
after first getting together.

00:43:19.709 --> 00:43:29.959
♪

00:43:47.625 --> 00:43:51.291
♪

00:44:13.625 --> 00:44:23.583
♪

00:45:46.458 --> 00:45:56.709
♪

00:45:57.250 --> 00:45:58.250
But guess what?

00:45:58.250 --> 00:46:01.500
Brezhnev died in the end...

00:46:01.709 --> 00:46:03.000
...and in the 1980s,

00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:07.542
the taboo related to sex
started to crack.

00:46:08.625 --> 00:46:10.458
Change was everywhere.

00:46:10.458 --> 00:46:15.125
A book all about sex was
even given official approval.

00:46:15.125 --> 00:46:19.333
It was aimed
at young married couples.

00:47:42.041 --> 00:47:52.291
♪

00:48:06.458 --> 00:48:11.041
♪

00:48:11.041 --> 00:48:13.959
Times had changed
and now saw the appearance

00:48:13.959 --> 00:48:17.834
of a sex education book
aimed at children.

00:48:17.834 --> 00:48:19.792
♪

00:48:48.542 --> 00:48:58.792
♪

00:49:28.542 --> 00:49:31.667
Some parents hid the book
from their children

00:49:31.667 --> 00:49:34.208
and many wrote
to the publishers

00:49:34.208 --> 00:49:37.625
letters both pro and con.

00:50:23.333 --> 00:50:24.583
Sorry.

00:50:24.583 --> 00:50:28.834
(wind blowing, pages rustling)

00:50:33.208 --> 00:50:36.625
(film projector clicking)

00:50:36.625 --> 00:50:39.125
(heavy breathing)

00:50:39.125 --> 00:50:42.208
♪

00:50:42.208 --> 00:50:45.542
Sex was really making
itself a common feature

00:50:45.542 --> 00:50:46.667
of everyday public life.

00:50:46.667 --> 00:50:50.667
A new leisure activity,
more or less indulged in secret,

00:50:50.667 --> 00:50:55.083
now made its appearance:
video clubs.

00:52:00.458 --> 00:52:05.417
♪

00:52:05.417 --> 00:52:06.291
All around the world,

00:52:06.291 --> 00:52:09.458
Gorbachev was known
as the father of perestroika.

00:52:09.458 --> 00:52:15.208
He was also the father of the
USSR\'s own sexual revolution.

00:52:15.208 --> 00:52:16.041
♪

00:52:16.041 --> 00:52:19.875
In 1988, moviegoers
finally got to see

00:52:19.875 --> 00:52:22.375
Soviet cinema\'s first sexual act

00:52:22.375 --> 00:52:24.500
in the film \"Little Vera.\"

00:52:24.500 --> 00:52:26.375
It caused a sensation.

00:52:26.375 --> 00:52:30.000
(heavy breathing)

00:52:34.750 --> 00:52:39.542
♪

00:52:50.959 --> 00:52:52.750
♪

00:52:52.750 --> 00:52:55.250
And when, following
the film\'s success,

00:52:55.250 --> 00:53:00.291
its starring actress appeared
on the cover ofPlayboy,

00:53:00.291 --> 00:53:02.458
it became clear
to the entire planet

00:53:02.458 --> 00:53:07.500
that there really was sex
behind the Iron Curtain.

00:53:07.500 --> 00:53:08.709
♪

00:53:08.709 --> 00:53:11.667
(fireworks whistling, exploding)

00:53:11.667 --> 00:53:15.999
♪

00:53:16.208 --> 00:53:19.583
(clanging)

00:53:21.125 --> 00:53:29.542
♪

00:53:29.542 --> 00:53:31.417
The idols of days gone by

00:53:31.417 --> 00:53:36.375
have been submerged
in a sort of post-Soviet flood.

00:53:36.375 --> 00:53:37.250
For 70 years,

00:53:37.250 --> 00:53:39.333
the authorities
blew hot and cold

00:53:39.333 --> 00:53:42.458
on individual citizens
and their private lives,

00:53:42.458 --> 00:53:46.417
but without ever managing
to channel their sexuality

00:53:46.417 --> 00:53:49.792
as though it were
the last remaining space

00:53:49.792 --> 00:53:53.333
in which everyone
could be him or herself.

00:53:53.333 --> 00:53:57.709
Let\'s just hope
that world never resurfaces

00:53:57.709 --> 00:54:00.875
in whatever shape or form.

00:54:00.875 --> 00:54:11.083
♪

00:54:12.959 --> 00:54:23.166
♪