A One Mann’s Movies review of “Navalny” (2022).
This was only one of three feature-length films that I failed to see from the BAFTA nominations… so of course it won! But “Navalny” is a rare thing: an intimate documentary that is gripping from start to finish.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Alexei Navalny is the only serious political opposition to Putin. We follow Navalny over recent years as the Kremlin try anything and everything to remove him from the picture.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC: “Infrequent strong language”).
Talent:
Starring: Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya.
Directed by: Daniel Roher.
Twitter Handle: #NavalnyDoc.
A prank call works better than any of Alexei’s supporters could believe. (Source: CNN).
“Navalny” Review:
Positives:
- The film crew had incredible access to Alexei and his team such that some of the scenes filmed are utterly jaw-dropping. Best of all was a set of ‘prank’ calls to a Kremlin-supported team. And a chilling final caption regarding one of them.
- As a historical work, this documentary records a face of Russia that – God willing – will sooner or later draw to a close. There are some fantastic shots early on of protesters suddenly aware of the camera filming them, and the look in their eyes suddenly changes when they realise they are on film.
- The film zips along and at 99 minutes never becoming boring. There is some very effective music to add to the tension, created by Marius De Vries, Anna Drubich and Matt Robertson.
- There’s some nice use of drone shots with some (e.g. of a prison at the end) that look like they would have been illegal under Russian law.
Negatives:
- I talked previously about documentaries needing to observe events without altering them or appearing ‘staged’. This movie does this very well, apart from a couple of incidents I noticed. In the most glaring one, a drone shot of Navalny running in the snow has clearly had two takes based on the sets of his tracks in the snow! Oops!
Summary Thoughts on “Navalny”
This is an awesome documentary that I would urge everyone reading this to watch. It’s available for low-cost rent on Amazon Prime Video.
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Trailer for “Navalny”
The trailer is here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81AAlzoKNPU .
