The movie I chose for this extra credit card is called Desert of Forbidden Art. The makers of this 2010 film are A. Pope and T. Georgiev. The voice actors who illustrate some of the diaries and letters of the artists mentioned in the film are Ben Kingsley, Sally Field and Ed Asner. The main setting the documentary was about was Uzbekistan, which was in the Soviet Union, or USSR, during the Cold War. This documentary story fascinated me, as I had little knowledge of many things related to the Cold War as I did not grow up in that era nor learn much about it in school. I also had no idea that art had had a bigger impact on the war than I thought, especially since I didn't know that the Soviet Union had banned certain art styles in the area; I now realize that art was as important to the public consciousness of the Soviet Union as the government itself was. The film is mostly about "forbidden" works of art made by people who lived in the Soviet Union at the time it existed. These works of art were banned, because the government of the Soviet Union wanted to promote itself in a positive light before the people and the rest of the world; therefore, they wanted artists to make masterpieces depicting socialist realism. Artists, who did not rebel against this idea, would portray the citizens of the USSR as happy, joyful, energetic, realistic and loyal to the government. However, artists, who created their own works of art without worrying about regulations, decided to use dark, depressing and shocking works of art to represent what the reality was and what life was really like in the Soviet Union; this was seen as anti-Soviet. Some artists painted figures representing freedom, ...... middle of paper ...... n. The documentary doesn't necessarily take a stand on whether it was right for artists to rebel or not, but the film shows people grateful for the art that was saved and preserved, regardless of whether the artworks were for or against the government. I think the documentary is trying to make people understand that art is much more important than people think, because of how much art influences people and society in general. I would recommend this film to anyone because I thought it was fascinating to learn about forbidden art, especially since I was unaware of the artistic situation in the Soviet Union. I think the documentary provides amazing inspiration for artists and people in general to pursue their dreams and passions. Overall, I enjoyed watching and learning about the film and what artists were going through during the Cold War in the USSR.