Navalny

Director: Daniel Roher

4 June 2023

See

Him: Navalny Alexei Anatolievich, the Russian opposition leader has been in jail for three years. Today is his birthday and it was marked by global protests. This documentary which won the Oscar I regret not seeing at Sydney Film Festival 2022 (but glad to have watched Tschaikovsky’s Wife there then as it didn’t get a general release or is unlikely to be easily accessible on streaming sites). It follows the attempted assassination of him, the response of his anti-corruption political party and media campagin, along with Bellingcat to expose the FSB operation to kill him and cover it up, his family time recovering and preparing to return home. 

Her: Navalny - an Oscar winning doco directed by Daniel Roher following Putin’s main counterpart Alexey Navalny from the time he was poisoned in August 2020 through his recovery, investigation of the crime committed against him and until his arrest upon returning to Russia in January 2021. Fun fact: one of the producer’s of Navalny the movie also produced the Fire of love.

Think

Him: Does a political figure need to be perfect in order to stand up to public scrutiny? Not in Russia, or the post fake news world, where being corru[pt or criminal isn’t always enough to make you lose power.  The same is true in the West too, one need only look at Donald Trump’s campaign for reelection as President of the United States of America. The only shade I could see cast on Navalny as contraversial in the sense of first world countries or actions worthy of scrutiny, cancellation or invalidation was that he spoke at rallies were far right nationalist elements were present and his rebutally was perfectly reasonable, they’re part of the fabric of society and you cannot make a broad coalition in opposition without disparate parts coming together. His remedy for dictatorship would be reducing the power of the presidency to counter Vladmir Putin’s legacy of rolling Russia back to imperial rule through anti-democratic reform. Navalny he claims this could be counters by returning freedom of expression, independent media, fair and free elections, which might be a start in rebuilding democracy and returning decency. 

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little,” said Sydney Smith. The protests today commemorated his incarceration as a political prisoner. After hearing Next Year in Moscow The Economist’s podcast by Arkady Ostrovsky, how Navalny succeeded Boris Nemstov as opposition leader (following his assassination near the Kremlin) I could see his charisma on screen. How he even undercover interviewed the chemist of the hit team that tried to whack him was revelatory.

Her: It appears to be a somewhat biased film as it only slightly touch based on the controversial side of Alexey’s personality and facts that he was involved with ultranationalist movement at the beginning of his career. It’s co-produced by his right hand Maria Pevchikh after all. However, it changed my perspective on his personality. I do believe that he believes in what he says. And I will vote for him if he gets a chance to run for being Russian president again. 

Feel

Him: In London’s Postman’s Park there is a memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice. Alexei Navalny returning to Russia would qualify. Giving your life. Russian literature articulates suffering like no other culture can. Unfortunately that’s sometimes seen as a virtue. “Suffering doesn’t make you better. It just makes you suffer,” said Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus. 

If more people dedicated their life to peaceful protest, we would not have war between Russia and Ukraine. But how can that be when man’s unhumanity to man comes up time and again when we can not agree. There was controversy over Ukraine’s president Vlodimir Zelensky not being permitted to give a speech at the Oscars because they did not want to politicize it. While the Navalny family were in their black tie best on the red carpet. But I’m with free speech on this one. And I’ll give over my final words to the director:

“Alexei Navalny remind in solitary confinement for what he calls, I want to make sure to get his words exactly right, “Vladimir Putin’s unjust war of aggression in Ukraine.”

And Yulia Navalnaya

“Thank you Daniel and thank you to everyone here. My husband is in prison just for telling the truth. My husband is in prison, just for defending democracy. Alexei, I’m dreaming the day when you will be free. And our country will be free. Stay strong my love. Thank you.”

Her: As I said above, it feels like a very American, well-made, quite black and white film in terms of storytelling style. My personal Oscar still goes to the Fire of love but I’m hopeful and curious to see what would become of Russia if Alexey Navalny was president.