Absolute rubbish film that succeeds only in regurgitating Russia's lies.

Do yourself a favor and skip this. 5 minutes on google is enough to debunk the bulk of what this film portrays as some kind of "hidden truth".

Maybe Oliver Stone should do his next documentary about how Aliens landed in the Whitehouse and are secretly controlling the US government. Would be just about as believable as the hogwash that is presented here.

All in all a shameful display of pro-Putin, pro-Fascist talking points that serve nothing but to oppress the people of Ukraine and give excuses for Russia to attack an independent state.

Oliver Stone produced and starred in "Ukraine on Fire" (2016) to compete with "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" (2015). Where the earlier documentary concentrates on the people's pro-democracy movement on the ground, Stone puts forward Vladimir Putin's point of view through an extensive interview with Viktor Yanukovych, president of the Ukraine at the time who ordered police to attack unarmed protesters. The documentary dovetailed neatly with the Trump campaign at the time in its attempt to link Joe Biden with the Ukraine. (Paul Manafort was a long-time advisor in the pay of Viktor Yanukovych.)

Background: "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" by Evgeny Afineevsky (Netflix, but available for free on YouTube), documents the 93-day-long Euromaidan protests in Kyiv from November 21, 2013 to February 22, 2014 that deposed president Viktor Yanukovych and cost the lives of 125 protesters and 13 police. 65 Protesters remain missing and 1890 were treated for injuries. The Euromaidan (Euro Square) protests were centered on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) and were triggered when Yanukovych reneged on his promise to associate the Ukraine with the EU, signing an agreement with Vladimir Putin instead.

On February 22, Yanukovych fled to Russia. Eight days later (March 2), troops from the Russian naval base at Sevastopol (Crimea's largest city) reinforced by forces from Russia itself had taken control of the Crimean Peninsula from the Ukraine.

Back to Stone's "Ukraine on Fire": Stone's documentary conveys a partisan, pro-Putin conspiracy theory largely based on interviews with deposed President Yanukovych; Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Minister of Internal Affairs (head of Ukraine's police); and Vladimir Putin himself. Journalist Robert Parry contributes to Stone's theory that all "colored revolutions" were the results of subversive conspiracies organized by the US Government: the State Department, the CIA, and NGOs in general (more specifically, the National Endowment for Democracy and USAID--which oversees foreign aid). George Soros, Joe Biden, and John McCain were named as co-conspirators.

In short: Regarding democracy as subversive puts Oliver Stone and his documentary in bed with dictators and autocrats. His documentary (based on interviews) holds that Euromaidan was carried out by anti-semitic and anti-Polish nationalists with links all the way back to the World War II Nazi occupation.

"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom" shows on-the-ground action footage of ordinary people involved in the pro-democracy people's movement.

On March 8, 2022, YouTube deleted Stone's documentary. Vimeo soon followed.

Almost everyone interviewed is on the Russian side of the fence and talks from Russian point of view. Oliver Stone should have at least attempted to get more balanced perspectives of what he described as a complex issue. The film makes some very serious allegations without shred of evidence. This gives it credibility of a facebook post. OS is diminished by such a weak and naïve portrayal.