How the Makers of 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' Addressed 'an Ethical Minefield'

[Uncle Joe]

The documentary about Vladimir V. Putin’s wartime indoctrination of Russian schoolchildren won an Oscar at Sunday’s Academy Awards.

David Borenstein, in white, and Pavel Talankin, left, at the Oscars on Sunday, accepting an award for “Mr. Nobody Against Putin.”Credit...Philip Cheung for The New York Times

(snip)

And the truth is shocking: students competing in grenade-throwing competitions, trying on tactical gear and holding guns, getting lectured by war mercenaries and being told by trusted teachers all manner of lies about Ukraine and the West.

“Regarding filming without permission, it’s a complicated question, because it raises another question: How else can you make a documentary film in this political regime?” one of Mr. Talankin’s former students, who is now 22 years old, wrote on Monday to The New York Times, speaking anonymously to avoid retribution in Russia. The student said there was no way to make the movie if permission was required.

Mr. Talankin, the “Mr. Nobody” of the movie’s title, told The Times in interviews in December and January that as he began making the compliance videos for the school, he started to realize he was witnessing something deeply wrong that few people were able to see and felt obliged to blow the whistle.

“I’m getting this all on camera, and I think I have no moral right to just take it and delete it later,” Mr. Talankin said, noting that schools are generally closed environments in Russia and that even interviews with teachers wouldn’t show what is really happening. He said, “This is the kind of material you can only get from modern Russia once in a lifetime.”

(snip)

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/europe/oscar-documentary-mr-nobody-against-putin.html

[jmbar2]

1. I just finished watching this doc - it is powerful and poignant

The Russian people are quietly paying a high price for this war. It's good that he documented it.