Film review: Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer

Maxim Pozdorovkin, Mike Lerner, 90mins. Starring: Mariya Alyokhina, Natalia Alyokhina, Mark Feygin (18)

This stirring feature documentary explores how the members of feminist punk protest band Pussy Riot provoked scandal and consternation among the Russian authorities with an impromptu gig in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

Directors Maxim Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner follow the later trial of the band members, two of whom are still imprisoned today. The film provides a chilling and sometimes comic insight into the Kafka-esque Russian legal system while exposing the deep fissures in President Putin's society – in particular, the huge divide between Orthodox Christians and radical young anti-Putin protesters.