When Mr. Nobody Against Putin premiered in Sundance a few days ago, the response from several viewers was that the film was like a cross between Navalny and Mr Holland’s Opus. On the one hand, it is giving audiences insight into the sheer extent of the propaganda Russians have been fed about their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On the other, though, it’s a warm and often funny account of a school teacher devoted to his pupils.
Pavel “Pasha” Talankin (the documentary’s co-director alongside David Borenstein) is the videographer at a primary school in Karabash, an industrial Russian town known for its high pollution levels and low life expectancy. He’s a free thinking and gentle character.
“He has such a warm heart for this school and the people around him. He is a kind of class clown figure who has always been the joker holding a camera in the halls of the school,” Borenstein observes.
The collaboration between Pasha and Borenstein (an American filmmaker based in Denmark) began in unlikely circumstances. Feeling as if the walls were closing in on him, Pasha initially thought about resigning from his job at the school in protest against the way the curriculum had been hijacked by pro-war zealots. Instead, he made contact online with someone from Europe who wanted him to make a film about how the war is affecting his school.
Pasha takes back his resignation and instead starts chronicling the goings-on in the classrooms and corridors. At times, for instance when some Wagner Group mercenaries drop by to give a lecture and show off their weapons, school life takes on a surreal air.
“The very special tone of the piece comes from the most radical part of the project which is the decision for Pasha and I to co-direct,” Borenstein states. He put his trust in Pasha to shoot what needed to be shot. Pasha, meanwhile, who was half convinced the whole documentary idea was a scam, agreed to send his footage to a stranger thousands of miles away whom he had never met.
“This is something of a political thriller and a very vital record of wartime Russia, but then to have Pasha’s voice at the centre creates that heart-warming, schoolyard drama vibe as well.”
Mr Nobody Against Putin captures the fatalism and humanity of its subjects. The older teachers and librarians are well accustomed to Russia’s lurches toward war, and to the nationalistic behaviour of their leaders. One of the film’s most distinctive characters is Mr Abdulmanov, the history teacher who is a fervent supporter of Putin and names some of Stalin’s most noxious henchmen as among his favourite people in history. He emerges in a surprisingly sympathetic light. Western viewers probably won’t agree with his politics but they will realise he cares deeply about the kids’ education.
“He is delivering the propaganda with a lot more passion than the other teachers. He is a more passionate teacher. Abdulmanov gives us a lot to think about how propaganda works. It can be transmitted not only by violence and repression but also through genuine love and care. That is perhaps the most frightening thing in the film,” Borenstein reflects.
The partnership between the two directors ran along clear lines. Pasha shot what he wanted to shoot. Borenstein downloaded his material via an encrypted server. “Then, throughout two years, I was just editing all the time. I was slowly finding different plot lines and emotional moments.”
It took a while for Borenstein to get a handle on Pasha’s free flowing shooting style. “But then I realised it is so good to approach it on its own terms because within this way of shooting, embedded within the visuality itself, was his point of view. I just learned to use that in the edit.”
After two years, the directors finally met in person. At that point, Borenstein realised that he and Pasha were indeed “truly on the same page.” Pasha watched the footage and loved what his American partner had done with it. “He had this big smile on his face when he was watching it. He had no idea that this was going to be a professional production.”
The duo then finished the film in the editing room together.
BBC Storyville had come on board at an early stage. Commissioning Editor Lucie Kon and the team were able to advise on the best approach to security. They also provided the first funding.
Borenstein pays tribute to his Danish producer, Helle Faber, CEO of Made in Copenhagen. “I’m not sure it [the film] would have existed without her,” he says.
The ex-pat US director had first come to Denmark in 2016 to make his documentary Dream Empire, which played at IDFA. He then edited a subsequent movie there (Can’t Feel Nothing) and ended up staying in the country. “My kids really enjoyed the Danish schools. My wife found a job there. For me personally, I really enjoyed working in the Danish film industry…so I decided to give this film to a Danish producer after six months of working on it alone.”
The documentary is sold by DR Sales in Europe and by Cinetic in North America and will continue its festival roll-out with screenings this weekend at the Gothenburg Film Festival before going on to CPH:DOX, Thessaloniki and many other events in the spring and summer.
For obvious reasons, plans for screening in Karabash itself are not yet in place. Whatever else, though, the documentary could be positive for a town often dismissed by outsiders as a bleak, polluted post-industrial hell-hole. It’s shown here as a rich and caring community with some very likeable school kids and teachers.
Borenstein notes that there has already been a “lot of chatter” about the film in the town. Once the trailer became public and the first Sundance reviews appeared, the townsfolk began googling for more information. There is some alarm that the doc might show them as opponents of the regime and thereby get them into trouble – but the filmmakers have been very careful to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
Pasha, who secretly fled Russia last summer, didn’t make it to Sundance. He is currently applying for asylum in the EU. It is hoped the documentary will help speed up the process and that he will soon be able to join in with the rest of the festival run.
