If you come from the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, it goes without saying that you are a passionate fan of the local football club Shakhtar and that the "Orange Revolution" was not for you. In no other city did the "blue opposition" of the current Ukrainian president and naturally passionate Shakhtar fan Viktor Yanukovych enjoy as much support as it did in the mining town of Donetsk. Director Jakob Preuss has made a very precise survey of the mentality of the people who nostalgically recall the "good old Soviet times" and who do not want to have anything to do with their country evolving along Western lines. This applies across the board, ranging from people like the ambitious young politician Kolya to the former miner Sasha or the friendly Valya, who operates a lift in a dilapidated local coalmine. This is a deftly edited portrait of an impoverished town, with a high unemployment rate and corruption, that is dominated by a sumptuous football stadium built by local billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. The film is punctuated by Shakhtar's victorious UEFA Cup campaign. And they say football is only a game…
