Over the course of two years, an ordinary Russian teacher was able to secretly film and release a documentary titled Mr. Nobody Against Putin. The movie won an Oscar this year for “Best Documentary Feature.” The win is well-deserved as the documentary is an eye-opening expose, documenting Russia’s use of war-glorifying propaganda in an attempt to brainwash an entire generation of children.
The documentary is told through “Mr. Nobody” or Pavel Talankin (Pasha), the well-liked videography teacher of Karabash Primary School. He records special events, lessons, assemblies, and more.
After Vladimir Putin started his invasion of Ukraine, he enacted the “Patriotic Education Policy.” Pasha and his colleagues’ lives were drastically changed as schools across Russia were forced to incorporate new routines, consisting of marching drills where students sing about the glory of their motherland. Additionally, teachers must read aloud prepared lessons filled with blatant lies about Ukrainians being Nazis, and disguising the war as a “military operation.”
As the videographer, Pasha is forced to record all these new “patriotic” events and upload them to a government database. “What she will tell you, she is forced to say,” says Pasha as he gets behind the camera to film his colleague teaching students that Ukraine is a “neo-nazi entity.” Throughout the school, similar classes are being held, leaving little time for actual learning. “It feels like teachers were being forced to fight this war too,” says Pasha.
The policy serves to gain support for the war while hiding the brutal reality of it. One of the most disturbing events was when soldiers visited the school to tell the students about the glory of war. The students try on the soldiers’ uniforms and play with their (unloaded) guns, becoming excited about the prospect of serving in the war.
As the Ukrainian war continues being praised, Pasha sees a darker side of it; his past students are beginning to get recruited into the war. Pasha is with them as they shave their hair in preparation and part with their family, excited to see them in the coming year. In the military camps, the new soldiers are told; they will die, but they shouldn’t be scared because they will be “immortalized as martyrs.”
“To see my students so directly get drawn into this war gave me an uncontrollable urge to lash out,” Pasha says. He lashed out by disrupting the daily national anthem ceremony by replacing the Russian anthem with the US national anthem performed by Lady Gaga on the school speakers.
Throughout the documentary, it is shown how dangerous it is for people to speak up against the Russian government. Pasha’s colleagues and friends become more aware that he’s against the war, especially after he changes all the Z’s hung up in school for “Za Pobedu” in Russian or “For Victory” in English into X’s, an online symbol in support of Ukrainian refugees. “You have a lot of enemies at the school,” Pasha’s mom tells him.
The horror of pro-war propaganda is further demonstrated through Masha, a once-talkative student who often visited Pasha’s office but is now withdrawn after her brother Koysta was drafted for the war. She tells Pasha that although she’s unhappy, she remains hopeful since Koysta often writes back, assuring his family he’s ok. Eventually, Masha and her family find out that her brother was captured by Ukrainian forces after he attempted to escape from the front. Later, they find out Koysta was killed.
Pasha also finds out that Artyom, a past student of his, was also killed in the war. “Filming Russian funerals is too risky, but I think it’s important, so I recorded the sound,” Pasha explains before sharing audio footage of Artyom’s funeral. His mom is heard, sobbing, “My little Artyom,” she cries. This story is a reminder of the true nature of war; it’s not something to be glorified, not in Russia, and not anywhere else. Families will never see their children again, all for the sake of a pointless war.
Eventually, after Pasha has gotten the footage for his documentary, he uses a “planned” vacation to Turkey to escape Russia. As Pasha crosses the border, his producer calls him to delete their messaging app because the government can track them through it. Most recently reported, Pasha resides in an undisclosed location and hopes to return to Russia after the current regime is overthrown.
Ultimately, I highly recommend Paval Talankin’s documentary, as it shows the dangers of how war propaganda distorts reality and that war is not something to be celebrated. Many people in Russia remain in the dark about what’s really happening, partly due to the aggressive propaganda used by the Russian government, as shown in the documentary. As someone with the majority of my family in Russia who all unfortunately support the current regime, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and it made me hopeful that there are people in Russia who not only recognize Putin’s lies but are also brave enough to speak out.
