Hey this is Josh Levine, the host of One Year. I hope you've been enjoying our season

on 1986. This is our seventh and final episode. But I've got some good news for you. We're

coming back for another season. It's going to be coming your way very soon. Stay tuned

after this episode to learn what year we're doing next and how you can help us out.

Now, on with our show.

I got obsessed with The Man from Fifth Avenue as soon as I found out it existed. It's one of

the most important movies of 1986, but I'm guessing you've never heard of it. That's because it aired

on Soviet television. The Man from Fifth Avenue is a documentary about life in the United States

from a Soviet perspective. It opens with an overhead shot of the Statue of Liberty and then

shifts to a close-up of Bruce Springsteen singing Born in the USA. Then there's a protest in Washington

DC and a close-up on people wrapped in blankets, trying to sleep on the ground. Men and women left

behind by the richest country in the world. From there, it moves to a bustling New York street scene

with skyscrapers and yellow taxis and pedestrians crammed shoulder to shoulder. Finally, about six

minutes in, the narrator introduces our main character. He's the guy from the title, The Man from

Fifth Avenue, and he's the reason I'm obsessed with this Soviet documentary. His name is Joe

Mori. After a brief tour of his apartment, he walks around outside, showing off some men

landmarks. That's pretty much how the whole thing goes, a seemingly random middle-aged New Yorker

talking about his life and his city. It's hard to imagine that anyone would care that much,

but in 1986, Joe Mori would find himself at the center of a Cold War maelstrom.

He takes the Soviet film crew on a tour of poverty and homelessness, a gold mine for Soviet propaganda.

But it probably wasn't in America, most Americans would recognize. Over and over again, the theme is

pounded home. The American ruling class is indifferent and scornful about the flight of the poor.

...