Pavel Talankin a teacher and the official school videographer in the industrial town of Karabash loved his life there and the school until the war against Ukraine started and he found himself having to film propaganda instead of teaching the students and helping them with their own projects. While he initially decides to resign, he changes his mind and decides to document the changes in the school and the demands for the school to be involved in propaganda for the war and indoctrinating students so Putin can have more willing troops for his useless and wasteful war.

The main subject of the film says he is “nothing special” and certainly not brave enough to openly protest the war like those brave enough to do so in Moscow. It seems even having your own mind and doing slightly different things than normal is enough to get you punished in Putin’s Russia. The suck-up history teacher “wins” and apartment for being “the most popular with the students” teacher. It is patently obvious he is being rewarded for “service to the war” which is the new “service to the party”. Even the “Great Patriotic War” going from 1941 to 1945 was only that due to Stalin making a deal with Hitler that they would not get involved in the war. Sucking up to a dictator does not stop you hanging upside down from a lamp post when they eventually topple.

I was surprised to see some clips at the start including a Youtuber I actually follow on and off and immediately went to tell him about it. Not sure if it is going to be another video, surely, he will be interested in it as he also fled Russia first to Georgia and then Portugal.

It also shows why more people do not protest in Russia as Putin has set it up that most people feel like they do not have an impact on the political protest and even minor protest or disagreeing at all with be met with a harsh penalty. Russia has already lost the war and will take decades to recover demography and economically even if there is peace in Ukraine.

An important movie and one that shows a rare insight from inside Russia from an actual Russian and not just someone from outside that people could point to as “anti-Russian”. Having the Wager Group turn up in the school is particularly telling given what ended up happening to them.

Film details:

Director: Pavel Talankin, David Borenstein

Producer: Helle Faber

Screenwriter: David Borenstein

Cinematographer: Pavel Talankin

Composer: Michal Rataj, Jonas Struck

Production Designer: Nicolaj Monberg, Rebekka Lønqvist

Featured Subjects: Pavel Talankin

Genre: Documentary

Country: Denmark, Czechia

Language:  English, Russian

Length: 90min

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcUeDa8FK_8