The 2022 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature (plus other awards, like Critic’s Choice and BAFTA) went to filmmaker Daniel Roher’s heroic portrait of Russian political candidate/political prisoner and assassination target, Alexei Navalny. If a man’s greatness is measure in terms of his enemies, as the saying goes, then Navalny’s greatness certainly comes from his slithery nemesis, Russian president and warlord Vladimir Putin.
That Navalny himself has a winning, warm, and camera-friendly persona cannot hurt (meanwhile, it is fair to mention that no input onscreen comes from anybody on the tainted Putin side, except for propagandist media clips, like a Moscow version of "Fox & Friends"). There is a slight aside about the early Navalny attending rallies alongside problematic Russian nationalists and extreme right-wingers; the main character’s defense is that he must represent all spectrums of Russian society fairly, not just pick and choose, as he runs for top office on a vague “peace” oriented platform. A political filmmaker less enamored of his subject might not have let the subject drop so easily.
We are introduced to Navalny as a former lawyer with an adoring and supportive wife, Yulia, and beautiful young children, who runs for office in Russia and becomes chief of the opposition party against seeming leader-for-life Putin. One cannot but help take Navalny’s corner when the dissenter (who speaks fluent English) falls badly ill on a plane trip to Siberia, with what is diagnosed (by doctors outside of Russia) as “Novichok” poisoning. This is nerve-gas toxin rumored to be practically a signature move by which former KGB agent Putin disposes of inconvenient people.
Putin responds dismissively to the accusations, amidst public protests supporting Navalny (in a bizarre Lord Voldemort-type situation, Putin refuses to even utter Navalny’s name, calling him “the patient”). A high point is high-tech detective work undertaken by a sympathetic Bulgarian computer hacker, to use meticulous phone records and online footprints, to narrow down and ultimately name the Putin functionaries on the same flight path as Navalny and were in position to try killing him, thriller stuff straight out of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
As viewers might well know, the Alexi Navalny saga is still ongoing, a story with a grievous open ending. Roher’s feature also shows just how much of the rest of the world was swept up with these epic intrigues, whilst much of the USA remained more fixated on, say, Trump antics or footballer Tom Brady’s retirement/marital status. Buyers might want to know of R-rated language in the material, but that should not…poison…its relevance.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Nonfiction-film shelves and politics collections should be quick to offer asylum to Navalny.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
The feature is highly recommended for Russian-centered and Eastern Europe-oriented programming. Current-affairs-oriented courses, human-rights and political-science curricula should also take an interest. The bilingual nature of the film makes it also an interesting possibility for Russian-language lessons.
What type of classroom would this documentary resource be suitable for?
High-school and above would be appropriate, assuming the occasional use of an F-word under duress is not a deal-breaker.