As part of the largest American independent film festival Sundance, the world premiere of the documentary Navalny by Canadian director Daniel Roer (production by CNN Films and HBO Max in collaboration with Fishbowl Films, RaeFilm Studios and Cottage M) was held. The film was «secret», the tenth entry in the documentary competition.
Aleksey Navalny. Frame from the film
Its premiere was announced literally at the last minute, a day before the show on Tuesday, January 25 at 8 pm East Coast time. This year, an independent film festival in the Mormon state of Utah was held online due to the pandemic. And those who wanted to watch the film about Navalny, which film critics called a «documentary thriller», could buy a ticket for $20 and get a link to watch it (in the United States). A few hours after the start of sales, all online tickets for the premiere were sold out.
29-year-old Canadian director Daniel Roer is a participant and winner of several documentary film competitions. Moreover, all the themes of his films are strikingly different: the most famous (the awards of the festivals in Palm Springs and Whistle Film Festival, participation in festivals in Moscow and Krakow) is a documentary biopic about the American folk-rock band of the 60‒70s the Band. The tape about Navalny, lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes, could become a new step in his career.
The director received full access to film Alexei Navalny, members of his family and team already in Germany, when the opposition politician, whose name is not pronounced in the Kremlin, was recovering in a village cottage after the Charité clinic in Berlin. After being poisoned during a business trip to Siberia, where another corruption investigation was being prepared.
While watching, I caught myself thinking that for the Western viewer and the Russian-speaking audience (which, in turn, is divided into those who are well aware of the history of the poisoning from the Internet and the few remaining independent media, and those who are regular and faithful viewers of federal news and » political talk shows») — these will be three different tapes.
However, nothing is clear about the demonstration in Russia, although, as the producers said at the press conference, «everything possible and impossible» is being done so that the film can be shown legally to the Russian audience.
For those in the know, the story is not new at all, but there are many exclusive shots and interesting details in the film. Since it is not clear when the Russian audience will see the tape, a little spoiler (realizing that seeing once is better than reading), I think it is acceptable.
Daniel Roer. Photo: EPA
The film begins and ends with the director asking what message Navalny wants to leave behind. At the beginning, the politician jokes that he prefers to have a thriller made about him. “If they kill, it will be a boring film”, that is, it does not speak on the merits. At the end, when the viewer sees Navalny's arrest at the airport (it was filmed large and detailed), the oppositionist behind bars, the flight over his penal colony covered with snow, the director repeats the question again, Navalny answers in English, but then Roer very correctly asks Alexei to answer to a question in Russian. «Do not be afraid! All that is needed for the triumph of evil is the inaction of good people.”
These are Navalny’s last words spoken on camera.
Exclusive — so far the only large photo of Navalny unconscious, transported back in Russia. Yulia Navalnaya admits that she forbade the press and even a team of associates to film Alexei in a helpless state: the body is in tubes and other medical devices. From superstition: if anything, let him remain in memory not helpless, but, as always, self-confident and cheerful.
The picture was shot and edited very dynamically, in a fashionable way: a lot of expressive close-ups, the camera moves, it is not static. On the one hand, this is a newsreel movie: with graphics, filming from the phone of Maria Pevchikh (who captured the beginning of the story of the Siberian poisoning, including recording the groans of the poisoned Alexei on board the plane), stills from the programs of federal Russian television channels, CNN filming (including an attempt to talk with one of the alleged killers, for which Lyubov Sobol was convicted), an interview with Western journalists (the American CNN, the Spanish El Pais, the German Spiegel also participated in the investigation of the poisoning), and finally, a chronicle from the life of a politician (including a long-standing participation in a nationalist rally), filming by the Dozhd TV channel* of Navalny's supporters meeting him from Germany in the frost at Vnukovo (and the plane landed at Sheremetyevo) is a vivid and dynamic collage. On the other hand, images of actual «documentary art» constantly appear. The longest frame of the generally dynamic film — on the eve of returning to Russia, Navalny looks into the void for ten seconds, the viewer understands: he knows both the price of risk and who he is dealing with.
Another parallel, like a repetition of the question at the beginning and end of the film, is Alexei and Yulia feeding a pony and a donkey in a German village. At the end of the film, the whole family does it, but without Alexei, he is in prison.
Daughter Dasha admits that since the age of 13 she has been thinking about the possible death of her father, little Zakhar parodies the famous phrase in the frame: “Hi, this is Navalny!” These “quiet” shots, as film critics note, also work for the main goal: to tell the story of how a Russian opposition politician who was “worked” by a group of intelligence officers almost died. «One of the most brazen cases of state-sponsored murder,» writes Fionn's critic Lou Hanningan.
For Western viewers, the film is full of eloquent documentary footage. For example, a fragment of a press conference of a man who does not pronounce Navalny's name, his characteristic laugh and the phrase: «This is not an investigation, but the legalization of the materials of the American special services … If they wanted, they would have brought it to the end.»
Or one more thing: on the eve of the poisoning, Navalny shoots a stand-up in the frame to investigate corruption in Siberia, and behind the wall, without hesitation, a local resident relieves himself of a small need. «You can't imagine it on purpose.» And the depressive footage of the Russian region, which cannot be called «materials of the American special services.» Harsh arrests, beatings of those who met Navalny.
As film critic Daniel Feinberg writes, 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, democracy in Russia looks exactly like this (and all this against the backdrop that the United States is not so brilliant at managing its own democracy). Everything is known in comparison.
And there is no need to remember the storming of the Capitol, these are completely different events: a meeting of an opposition politician at the airport, a protest rally due to his detention and the seizure of a state authority by a crowd.
< p>Yulia Navalnaya, who managed to get Alexei to Germany for treatment, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry a week later, where they said that German doctors had identified traces of Novichok, a banned chemical weapon that allegedly poisoned the Skripal family and a British resident of Salisbury. As Navalny's colleague in the banned and closed Anti-Corruption Fund**, Leonid Volkov, says in the film, when he told Alexei about this, he put it firmly: “… (damn it)! It's so stupid!”
“Could have been shot”… Later he says in English: “Poison? Seriously? WTF (what the hell)?!”
The film contains an unexpected reference to the Chernobyl tragedy. Navalny's family lived near the crash site. The oppositionist recalls how the authorities said in the days after the accident: do not panic, go and work in the field.
And the first impression of my political antagonist: “When I first saw Putin, I saw a leader who, looking into my eyes, lied to me.”
The central moment of the tape is the investigation of the Bulgarian Hristo Grozev, who, thanks to various sources, found a list of the alleged killers of Navalny
(“I paid $150,000 for information for my investigations, I hope my wife doesn’t find out about this,” says Grozev). At first, the politician's team met him with caution. But he turned out not to be a CIA or MI6 agent, but “a kind, sweet Bulgarian nerd with a laptop,” as Aleksey described him. It is shown in detail how the team doubted whether it would be possible to obtain confirmation of the poisoning with the help of fake “prank” calls from an allegedly high-ranking FSB officer (in the recent past, the well-known pro-Kremlin pranksters Lexus and Vovan were involved in such “pranks”). The scientist and officer Konstantin Kudryavtsev, as shown in the film, gave such testimony. Immediately after the conversation, the investigators triumph, but at the same time they ask themselves: “Poor Kudryavtsev, what will happen to him? Maybe warn him? As the cameraman of the film, who does not understand a word of Russian, admitted, from the reaction of the team, he realized that something very important was happening and it was necessary to continue filming. Navalny's team delayed the publication of this conversation, and only after Putin's denials at a press conference: «who needs him?», aired it.
On January 17, 2021, the director and cinematographer of the film lost access to the main character. The rest of the events are indicated only by captions: the investigation about Putin's palace («the story of the biggest bribe in world history»), the verdict, the information that Grozev and Pevchikh were looking for but lost traces of Kudryavtsev, the only person who gave valuable confessions, which the Russian authorities called » provocation.» The film shows that other alleged poisoners refused to speak and hung up.