When, If Not Today

Relatively straightforward recap of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, with students from Prague's FAMU university grabbing cameras and recording the growing, infectious confidence of the street protests and strikes, the Communist government's half-hearted response, vox pops with workers and protestors and firebrand film-maker Vera Chytilová, and the popular momentum that propelled Vaclav Havel to the leadership. The editing is scattershot, but there are some striking clips: ice-hockey players throwing in their sticks conveys the remarkable solidarity of the moment, while aspirational talk of real (social) democracy, and footage of hi-tech spa rooms for the Party elite, suggest the long and the short of revolutions and their ideals.