Mr. Nobody Against Putin

I saw 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' at a film festival in early April 2025. Not only did I enjoy the film, especially learning about the fun and brave main character and co-director Pavel "Pasha" Ilyich Talankin, but I got to enjoy a Q&A session and later talk with the other co-director, David Borenstein.

Pasha is from a town of 10,000 in the Ural Mountains of Russia and has a job of organizing events and documenting them and everyday life at a school (K-12?). Things change dramatically when Russia invades Ukraine and schools are asked to give not just scripted patriotic pro-war education, but also are exposed to military education, including marching in uniform, having grenade throwing competitions, and more.

Pasha is a hero; he loves his students who look to him for safe conversations and a space in his video office/classroom. What he does in the face of government militarization of the classroom makes for a fascinating story.

Amazing bravery and how creepy was the history teacher ?

Didn't understand when he was talking about England that he claimed we killed our own people during World War 2 The way that Putin is brainwashing a country as big as Russia and militarising young children is really worrying It showed that most young Russians just want a peaceful quite life like most young people in the west.

The older folk appeared to accept that wars happen and people shoot each other.

Hi Pasha,

I took my brother to see this today at Sundance (it's his birthday tomorrow and he lived in Eastern Ukraine from 2017-2019) and we were both so intrigued and touched by your film.

One thing that deeply impressed me was the way that you used your talents and position to resist. So often I feel like I don't have power to make a real difference in my community or my country, but your film was such a powerful testament to how we really can by using the tools and gifts at our disposal.

It was also so deeply relevant, not only to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but also to the propaganda that we see currently in the United States. It was a powerful reminder to me of the active role I need to take at home in trying to seek out truth and share it as well as I can.

Your love and care for Russia, the children in your school, and your community, was evident throughout the film. Sometimes, the greatest form of love and patriotism is dissent, which you've done so courageously here. Despite the horrors you exposed, it was genuinely beautiful and hopeful. Spectacular work. Sending so much warmth and love.

In an age where autocracy tightens its grip and dissenters disappear without a trace, this documentary emerges as a stark and timely reflection on resistance. The film follows an everyman who finds himself inadvertently drawn into a quiet confrontation with one of the world's leaders. The title is evoking Kafkaesque anonymity, and the film's greatest strength is its restraint. There are no grandstanding monologues just the suffocating tension of a man who loves his country, his town, his presence in society, but is against the regime and the war against Ukraine.

Visually, Mr. Nobody Against Putin captures the haunting contradictions of modern Russia. The beauty of a frozen landscape at minus 45 degrees sits uneasily alongside the brutalist remnants of Soviet architecture. There is warmth in the people, their resilience, their humour but also the omnipresence of state control. The film lingers on chilling images: children marching through school corridors, clutching rifles with solemn determination.

The documentary does not offer easy catharsis. It does not promise a hero's victory or a resolution. Instead, it delivers something more unsettling: a creeping awareness that injustice can happen anywhere. To anyone. When they least expect it.

Watched the film during a screening at Sundance and along with the rest of the audience I laughed, and cried, and experience a range of emotions in between. Great storytelling. The narration, the choice of videos used, and the storylines woven together felt thoughtful and purposeful.

As someone who's felt run down by the news over the last 3 years, this film gave me a bit of hope. And a push to continue speaking out and helping the people who are.

Thank you for the work that's been put into this film and all the sacrifices made. I'd recommend for others to watch the film - you will enjoy it!