"Bringing Down a Dictator" is a testament to the human spirit.
It chronicles the actions of a grassroots movement called Otpor! (Serbian for "Resistance") that miraculously brought Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic out of power.
The organization of Otpor! was ingenious because there was no central command, no official leaders.
What they accomplished in a year's time was incredible, especially given their adherence to nonviolent civil disobedience.
What is also amazing is how the many party leaders looking to replace Milosevic agreed to back one man, Vojislav Kostunica, who was elected president in 2000.
"Bringing Down a Dictator" does a wonderful job of showing the inner workings of Otpor! and the way it attracted people from all walks of life and from all over the country.
The group arose from the massive bombing of Yugoslav targets in 1999 by NATO forces to punish Yugoslavia , meaning Milosevic , for the policy of ethnic cleansing in the mostly Albanian province of Kosovo.
While the documentary is dated (it was released in 2002), its exhibition of a nationwide peaceful uprising is timeless. It is about an hour long and is narrated by Martin Sheen.
The movement was largely made up of young people, the older members being in their 20s.
In part financed by European nations and the United States, Otpor! members saturated polling places in the October 2000 elections to ensure free and fair elections.
When Milosevic (who had lost the election) refused to accept the results at the polls, a nationwide general strike was called and life in Yugoslavia ground to a halt.
What is so remarkable in "Bringing Down a Dictator" is how humane the uprising was , the demonstrators were urged to not provoke police but to view them as fellow victims of a corrupt regime.
Also, Milosevic and his cronies were holdovers from the Cold War who had been Soviet-styled communists (now called socialists). He was accustomed to fraudulent elections and crooked, sometimes brutal, means to maintain his hold on power.
One of the things "Bringing Down a Dictator" shows is how out of touch Milosevic was, especially when it came to the country's youth.
Marching and carrying signs that said "He's finished!" the Yugoslavs converged on the parliament building in an emotional demonstration of people power.
Milosevic died in 2006 while awaiting trial by the ad hoc Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague.
"Bringing Down a Dictator" is available on DVD.
