An industrial town in the Urals has become the scene of one of the most shocking political documentaries of the year. Mr. Nobody Against Putin, nominated, shows how state propaganda has infiltrated Russian classrooms to shape the daily education of thousands of students.
The film, directed by American filmmaker David Borenstein with Russian videographer Pavel Ilyich Talankin, is based on clandestine recordings carried out for two years inside a school in remote Karabash, a mining city marked by pollution and poverty. There, according to the documentary, the war in Ukraine completely transformed the school routine.
Patriotic classes and mandatory speeches
The turning point comes on February 24, 2022, when the invasion of Ukraine begins. Since then, the school begins to apply new ideological guidelines. Flags are raised in the hallways, patriotic events are organized and a mandatory subject is introduced: ‘Conversations about Important Matters’.
Each Monday, students participate in activities designed to justify the call ‘Special Military Operation’, the term with which the Kremlin refers to war. In one of the scenes in the documentary, a teacher explains to the students that “Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were friendly countries. But Ukraine was on the path of neo-Nazism and that we had to liberate it.”
Talankin, who worked as a videographer and coordinator of school events, had the official task of recording these acts and uploading them to a state portal as proof of compliance. Then I had to delete the material. Instead, he decided to put it away.
An uncomfortable witness within the system
Over time, the protagonist is convinced that these images have historical value, although he acknowledges that he has “realized that I have no moral right to erase all this. Because it is proof of how propaganda enters Russian schools and what happens within them.”
The recordings also show the visit of members of the group who instruct the children in combat practices and pose with them in photographs holding weapons. In fact, some of the students end up being recruited for the front, just as they teach.
An uncomfortable document about the future
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025, where it won the Special Jury Prize. With a final footage of 90 minutes, the European co-production has been selected as Oscar candidate in the documentary category.
The protagonist’s final message is pessimistic even in the face of a possible ceasefire. In one of the film’s harshest reflections, he warns that “even if we manage to hold successful peace talks now, even if we manage to stop this war, it will not be completely over,” because “the propaganda will remain in their minds.”
