Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 88%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5.[6] It also has a score of 79 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[7]

Stephen Farber from The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, stating that "Afineevsky found a variety of witnesses, including student activists, journalists, laborers, artists and clergy, who all add sharp voices to the collage. One of the most engaging of these interviewees is a 12-year-old boy who offers a remarkably unjaundiced view of the turmoil." He praised the editing and music, but criticized the fact that "the film does grow repetitive, partly because it provides so little historical context or a larger overview of how the growing authoritarianism of Putin's Russia is affecting this part of the world. Yet there are unmistakably moving moments that convey the brutality of the government's response to an authentic popular movement".[8]

Jay Weissberg from Variety stated that Winter on Fire is an "accessible film, with greater TV appeal, but it's also more limited by its insistence on shoehorning everything into one perspective, albeit a perspective shared by the majority of Ukrainians."[9]

Dan Fainaru of Screen Daily wrote, "Consistently avoiding any attempt at political analysis, Afineevsky's cameras show ever-expanding crowds, young and old, men and women, Christians, Jews, Muslims, academics and proletarians, all united under the one common cause, the removal of a man who, in their eyes, embodied the concept of corruption. Often exasperated by the politicians who were supposed to represent them and who cheated them, these people were willing to die, if necessary, to achieve their goal, displaying an idealistic fervour (i.e. the joined support of all religions) rarely encountered in normal circumstances". He also praised Will Znidaric for the editing, calling it "brisk and energetic".[10]

Eric Kohn from IndieWire gave it a grade "A−" on scale of A to F, stating that "Winter on Fire features the intensity of an action movie and the fury of a clear-eyed polemic. [...] An exciting montage of the developing crowd ends with close to a million protestors gathered together at the centre of town in a stunning act of defiance. [...] Despite the ongoing power of these scenes, Winter on Fire achieves its finest shot with a bird’s eye view of the Maidan protests, as thousands of activists push back against a black mass of officers and congeal into an insurmountable wall. With images like these, Afineevsky doesn't need to push the message about the protesters' durability; it's right there on the screen."[11]

Critics Lev Golinkin, Amy Cooter and Jay Weissberg criticized the film for showing several symbols and flags described as "neo-Nazi symbols used by extreme right wing protesters, left uncommented in the film." Golinkin was the most critical of the film.[9][12][13] According to Golinkin, "The colorful array of activists, artists, scarf-wrapped babushki, bearded priests and fresh-faced students makes it appear as if Ukraine's people from all walks of life in participated in the Maidan uprising. But some are missing — neo-Nazis, who were edited out".[13]