Putin does not want this documentary to win the Oscar

One of the documentaries with the most chances of winning an Oscar is Mr. Nobody vs. Putin, a magnificent work for its capacity for denunciation but, above all, because it returns to the essence of the genre. The images were born as a testimony of a reality even before there was any intention of turning them into a film project. Initially, the purpose of these recordings was different. But a turning point changed its destiny, almost as a consequence of the perplexity experienced by the person recording the images.The protagonist is Pavel Pasha Talankin, a primary school teacher in the city of Karabaş, in the heart of industrial Russia, in the mountainous Ural region. The town is famous because UNESCO declared it the most toxic place on Earth. The life expectancy of its inhabitants is 38 years. Pasha is the coordinator of school events and the cameraman for everything that happens there. A dynamizer of the cultural life of the center, much loved by the students. He explains how his work changed drastically in February 2022, with the invasion of Ukraine, when a guideline with the new federal patriotic education policy arrived at the school. Since then, students have to present the flag and march like soldiers every morning, sing the anthem, and recite patriotic speeches. Teachers have to preach lessons in classrooms that are pure propaganda without any academic basis. Pasha is obliged to record everything and upload the images to government databases to demonstrate that the school respects the orders of Putin's regime. The camera becomes a witness to the entire indoctrination process. The hours that Pasha previously dedicated to students, he now spends in the service of propaganda. The contrast between before and after the Russian invasion shows us how life in Russia has transformed and how fear, censorship, and oppression are imposed. We not only see how the protagonist's mood changes, but also that of his students and former students. There are very moving scenes about the impact of the war on their lives. The possibility of providing all the recorded material to a documentary filmmaker beyond the Russian border is what motivates Pasha to continue. He becomes this Mr. Nobody from the title who fights Putin from absolute humility, from the logic of his work, from affection for his students, love for his country, and his democratic convictions. "I think what you've done will have a big impact," a voice tells him over the phone. And so it is. Mr. Nobody is on the verge of winning an Oscar in Hollywood by showing the abyss into which the Russian educational system, and therefore Russian society, is sinking. He always does so with a sense of humor born from pain and from the most grotesque scenes that absolutisms provoke. It is a documentary that will resonate with teachers and can be a good antidote for all those young people who are fascinated by the far-right.