What I found most interesting and appealing about the movie “Anna”, and what I believe is the central premise of the entire film, is the transition of the narrator’s daughter’s beliefs over time and in the context within the events taking place around her, and more broadly, the Soviet Union. The yearly interviews begin with a naïve six-year-old girl answering four seemingly trivial questions. The answers they elicit are much less simple. In fact, they tell a much more important story.

Initially, the young six-year-old is most fearful of witches and hates borsch the most. This is certainly most in-line with what we, in the United States, would think a six-year-old thinks: fearing fictitious creatures, hating our mother’s favorite dish, etc. Interestingly, she is admitted into school two years later and her outlook drastically changes, she is overtly indoctrinated by the Soviet public education system. No longer is she fearful of these childhood demons, no longer does she hate mom’s favorite dishes. Instead, Anna now wants a leader approved by all and by the mere age of nine, Anna knows all the central tenants and doctrines of Stalin’s socialism. The transformation is both shocking and eye-opening: this is the influence propaganda and authoritarianism has on youth.

After outgrowing the brainwashing, admitting it herself, Anna matures and begins to think about what ordinary people might think others ponder. She is most fearful of losing the world close to her, and even when asked where she would choose to live, responds where she grew up. All in all, her documented upbringing sheds light on the grip the Soviet Authoritarians had on the youth of their country, and the love for their country that generations of Soviet children had and continue to have.