Oscar-Winning Russian Documentary Takes on Putin

Pavel Talankin with his camera in Mr. Nobody Against Putin, the Oscar winning documentary now at the Oriental Theater – photo by František Svatoš.

One of the most memorable moments of March 15’s Oscar telecast, seen by many millions worldwide, was the title and the atmosphere surrounding a film few had seen – the winning best feature length documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin.

The first positive response was to the title, since so many in the world feel like a “nobody” contemplating Putin’s military strength and hold on his nation, inevitably evoking comparison to other countries’ leaders and behavior, including ours.

Then there was the emotional acceptance speech by co-director David Borenstein, which I think struck many U.S. citizens in the current fever to take action. He noted that the message of the film was how accepting little violations and small disturbances to rights, education standards and teacher freedom was the start of a long decline in democracy.

The documentary itself, mostly using saved footage from its main actor, primary school teacher, videographer and co-director Pavel (“Pasha”) Talankin, is now available and its message and methods are clearly making a mark.

Moreover, it is a true story without the manufactured Hollywood ending of satisfaction. There are little triumphs for Talankin, a Russian elementary school teacher inside the village of Kurabasak. The village itself, once famous for copper mines and rampant environmental problems, is deep in the heart of Russia.

Its inhabitants know little about Ukraine until Putin goes to war in 2022 and imposes militant marches, classroom lessons and propaganda exercises on the children, who learn little about Ukraine except that it is the prodigal child breaking away ungratefully from the Soviets — a region identified by a Putin-supportive teacher as the site of Soviet militaristic power during World War II.

The mild-mannered Talankin, the video expert and events coordinator seeing the children’s minds being perverted, records it all and begins sharing the footage with the outside world. He is eventually standing alone in his rustic community, though well liked, and plans an escape with his footage.

Borenstein has fashioned the simple footage into an evocation of village life and human impact as children aim guns at the camera or suffer the loss to the draft and to death of barely older brothers. Mainly through editing and juxtaposition, keeping the techniques simple, this tightens the story into a growing involvement in Talankin’s personality and struggles.

At points I thought the film by subject matter alone would invoke audience cheers at the need for resistance, but the film is working in quieter ways. The audience tends to murmur in anger or identify with the villagers who just duck their heads and go along. The inability of most people to attack isolates Talankin as the human conscience in this sad chronicle.

Hollywood has not ignored this formula over the decades, but it has tended to glamorize the schlub who resists his cruel masters or hides his real feelings until the right moment to explode. Sometimes they can’t explode — remember A Beautiful Life from 1999, where best Oscar winner actor Robert Benigni plays a concentration camp victim who pretends to his child that it is all an amusement park game he is playing with the Nazis.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin is not a game, nor is it even that deep an emotional victory. But it plays the same theme with real life, the price of playing along to get along outside the Hollywood world. The film is now showing at the Oriental Theatre, usually twice a day until March 26, and is also available for rent or purchase on streaming services.

Dominique Paul Noth served for decades as film and drama critic, later senior editor for features at the Milwaukee Journal. You’ll find his blog here and here. For his Dom’s Snippets, an unusual family history and memoir, go to domnoth.substack.com.