Film

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer

Name: Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
Genre: Music, Documentary
Released: 2013
Cast: Mariya Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Andrey Tolokonnikov, Petr Verzilov

Drama

A vital documentary about the 2012 trial of Russian feminist punk collective Pussy Riot, filmed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin. It's an urgent, intimate portrait of three young women resisting state oppression with art and defiance. You're watching both a love story and a reckoning with power—urgent, sometimes darkly funny, deeply human. Essential viewing for anyone who cares about free expression or artistic courage.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a documentary that treats protest, faith and courtroom theatre as one argument, and you don't mind the filmmakers taking a side.

Skip it if you want a neutral account of Russian politics, since this is openly partisan and sides with the group from its first frame to its last, with little room for doubt.

What it asks of you: Ninety minutes of close attention, shifting between protest footage, courtroom scenes and the band speaking for itself, so keep track of who is talking and why.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom2015

Another vital doc about resistance and state violence in Eastern Europe, filmed with the same intimate access and moral clarity. Captures individual heroism amid massive political upheaval.

But Relentlessly bleak—it offers catharsis rather than resolution, and the weight of what you're witnessing can be exhausting.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom poster

The Act of Killing2012

A fearless documentary that puts perpetrators of state violence on camera and lets their own words indict them. Structurally audacious and morally uncompromising, like Pussy Riot itself.

But Deeply disturbing—not just in content but in the complicity it forces you to examine. Requires emotional stamina.

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry2012

Portrait of another artist confronting authoritarianism through provocation and risk. The parallel to Pussy Riot is direct—a world where making art is an act of rebellion.

But Can feel like a portrait of individual martyrdom rather than systemic change, which may feel incomplete or grim.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Hunger2008

Both use the body and public space as stages for political protest; both reject the idea that dissent should be polite, hidden, or safe.

Steve McQueen film about Bobby Sands' prison hunger strike—a body as political statement, art as resistance, the state's violence made tangible. It shares Pussy Riot's understanding that your body itself can be a weapon and a canvas.

But Visually and emotionally brutal. Very slow, very formal. Not a documentary—sometimes abstraction feels colder than testimony.

The Trial of the Chicago 72020

A riveting courtroom drama about activists on trial for political dissent. Has the same energy of righteous anger and the state using law as weapon, but more cinematic and entertaining.

But It's a drama, not a documentary—the real Pussy Riot trial has a rawness this can't quite match, and the American context feels safer somehow.

The Woman Who Left2016

Lav Diaz film about a woman rejecting the violence of the state and the violence of family and love. Shares Pussy Riot's interest in how bodies resist and what it costs.

But Deliberately slow, philosophical, oblique. Nothing like the directness of a documentary—requires patience and interpretation.

Harakiri1962

Masaki Kobayashi masterpiece about an individual's act of defiance against a corrupt system. The parallels to ritual, performance, and sacrifice echo through Pussy Riot's cathedral action.

But Utterly tragic—it's about defeat, not victory. Japanese, from 1962, and demands serious attention rather than engagement.

The Square2017

Jehane Noujaim's documentary of Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising. Captures the same mix of hope, music, art, youth, and state violence that fuels Pussy Riot's resistance.

But Sprawling and sometimes unwieldy—following dozens of characters across years means you lose narrative momentum and focus.

Blackfish2013

Documentary about institutional power, confinement, and breaking free. Shares Pussy Riot's willingness to indict systems through testimony and archive rather than narration.

But It's about animals and theme parks. The metaphor is obvious and the emotional register completely different. Might feel lightweight by comparison.