A.R.M. Around Moscow

A.R.M. Around Moscow documents particpants in A.R.M. (American-Russian Matchmaking) to explore the relationship of personal power to domestic identity, and economic and political structure. Finley and Stoeltje followed 21 American men as they travelled to Russia to meet 500 local women. Each man was provided with a car, driver, translator, apartment, and meals for a "14-day tour of Russia's most beautiful and highly-educated women" at the cost of about $4,700. From the moment of their anxious arrival at the Moscow airport, and throughout their dances, dates, and tearful departures from their newly acquired fiancees, these American men repeatedly disparaged American women as "too feminist," "demanding," and most importantly, "lacking in traditional family values. The Russian women, exhausted from balancing their careers and domestic responsibilities, look to these men as a possible hope for a better life and mutual love.

“At its heart, A.R.M. Around Moscow is about a new U.S. export, the feminist backlash. Whereas the Russian women yearn for liberation from an uncertain future, the American men look to a past where they were armed for domination.”

—Steve Seid, American Cultures (Berkeley: Pacific Film Archives, 1994)