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.

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.

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.

We watched your movie at the Full Frame Festival in Durham today: Pasha: You need to know an entire three level theater stood and clapped for you today. Your movie brought us all to tears... your sensibility, sense of humour, striking courage and kindness is a diamond shining over our declining world. The love you have for your students, your school and your community truly came through in the intimate interaction you were able to capture in your videos. We felt a personnal connection with the student whose brother was sent to Ukraine and our hearts are breaking for these families and the sufferting they must be feeling right now. We hope your movie can enpower others to stand up. We all need to do that while we can here in the US! We think about you Pasha and wish you happiness in your new private life and career!

This was such a powerful watch. It's not often I get the chance to see a film in Russian on the big screen, and the experience really hit me hard. The story unfolded with such intimacy and weight that I found myself holding my breath at times - it left a lump in my throat I couldn't quite shake.

What I loved most was how it balanced the personal with the political - it wasn't just a story about resistance, but about humanity, choices, and the quiet courage of ordinary people. Some parts were confronting, but that's what made it so important and unforgettable.