Mr. Nobody Against Putin Review: Recording Resistance

When the Oscar nominations were announced, I’ll admit I let out a heavy sigh. Anything with “Putin” in the title was enough to make me book it in another direction. But Mr. Nobody Against Putin was nominated for Best Documentary Feature, my favorite category, so I made it one of the first films to check off my list. And, as is usually the case with films I’ve been avoiding, it’s one I should have made time for earlier.

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin was the events coordinator and videographer at a primary school in Karabash, a small Russian town near the Ural Mountains. Karabash has been designated by UNESCO as one of the most toxic places on Earth, its copper smelting plant having poisoned the rivers orange and the forests dead for over a century. It’s an appropriately bleak setting for a story about another kind of poison. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the government began requiring schools to implement a state-written curriculum designed to justify the war and breed hatred. Teachers were ordered to record these lessons as proof of compliance.

What the government didn’t anticipate was that their compliance mandate would give a pro-democracy teacher cover to document everything else. Over two years, Talankin filmed the transformation of his school from a place of education into a recruitment center for Putin’s war. Flag-waving patriotic displays gave way to grenade-throwing demonstrations. Wagner Group mercenaries visited to teach explosives. Children who had been learning music and art were suddenly reciting scripts about the glory of nuclear weapons.

Co-directed by Talankin and David Borenstein, the film is a remarkable act of witness. Talankin is an engaging presence, his video journal entries raw and introspective without becoming repetitive. We watch him wrestle with the ethical dilemma of participating in propaganda while secretly documenting it. His office, once a haven for students who didn’t fit the typical mold, becomes increasingly isolated as his pro-democracy stance alienates staff members afraid of being marked as disloyal.

The film is impeccably edited by Rebekka Lønqvist and Nicolaj Monberg, who shape two years of footage into a tight 91-minute narrative. It’s a perfect length for its subject, avoiding the bloat that drags down so many documentaries trying to say everything about their topic. We see relationships with specific students develop over time, watch boys’ haircuts get shorter as the militarization deepens, notice camouflage replacing normal clothes in the hallways.

One sequence stands out: Talankin explains he couldn’t film a funeral for a student drafted and killed in Ukraine because it might have provoked a hostile reaction. So he recorded audio only. Hearing the soldier’s mother wail inconsolably while staring at a black screen puts everything in perspective in a way narration never could.

The stakes are real. The message is timely. A 2023 law made opposing the Ukraine occupation a capital offense. When evidence of police surveillance appears outside Talankin’s home, he’s forced to plan a dangerous escape, aided by his producers. His aging mother works as the school librarian, adding another layer of anguish to his decision to leave forever.

As our own country grapples with misinformation being disseminated without factual backing, Mr. Nobody Against Putin arrives as both warning and inspiration. History happens because it’s recorded. When governments start scripting history in real time, we all become complicit unless someone decides to turn the camera on what’s really happening. Talankin did, and the footage he risked everything to smuggle out speaks for itself.