Mr Nobody Against Putin
In David Borenstein’s Bafta-winning, Oscar-nominated documentary, a teacher looks at the brainwashing of school children in Russia today.
In the crosshairs: learning to hate
Image courtesy of BBC.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Russia is not all bad. Pavel ‘Pasha’ Talankin, a school teacher, videographer and events organiser at Karabash Primary School in the Urals, suggests that he might love his country even more than the current regime does. “I love when it gets so cold, it’s almost minus forty-five degrees. I love everything. I love the people.” But, Pasha continues, “Love for your country is not about putting up a flag. It’s not about singing the anthem. It’s not about exploitation and propaganda. Love for your country means saying, ‘We have a problem’.” As the title suggests, Pavel ‘Pasha’ Talankin is an ordinary Russian living in what UNESCO once dubbed “the most toxic place on Earth.” To the sound of upbeat music, Pasha describes his small town as a part of “Russia’s industrial heartland. Life here revolves around the copper smelting plant. People come from everywhere to see the town, which has an average life expectancy of 38 years.”
Out of Pasha’s love for his country, a different narrative emerges, particularly after 24 February 2022 when Vladimir Putin announces his “special military operation” in Ukraine. The rules change, a state-scripted curriculum is introduced and patriotic military drills become mandatory for the students of Karabash High. Day by day, week by week, our inside videographer records the changing climate as a new breed of indoctrination seeps into the classroom, when little boys are taught how to use semi-automatic weapons and engage in grenade-throwing games. Suddenly, the school syllabus seems entirely geared towards military service and the children are versed in the evils of the country that Putin invaded (apparently in order to stamp out Ukraine’s Nazification).
Because Pasha is a regular Russian, his words hold a weight far beyond anything Zelensky could muster. More disturbing still is what emanates from the mouth of Pasha’s own mother, a librarian he obviously loves deeply. To his camera she explains, “it is only natural for young boys to go to war.” In Russia, it seems, war is a way of life, to be celebrated and continued down through the centuries. As part of a pep talk, a commander tells his troops, “All of you will die, but know one thing: Mother Russia will never forget us!” In fact, fatality figures are a closely guarded secret, although it is known that 1,000 Russian soldiers are killed every day in Ukraine, young sons conscripted against their wishes.
In part a valentine to the Mother Country and in part a video diary of a teacher who believes in democracy more than he does his president, Mr Nobody Against Putin probably doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. But Pasha brings a ground’s eye view of the current climate in the country, of the desperation fuelling the younger generation and how susceptible so many of these children are to the propaganda. And the state’s deep-seated corruption is evident at even the most local level, when the reptilian history teacher Pavel Abdulmanov, who cites as his heroes the Soviet monsters Lavrentiy Beria and Viktor Abakumov, is voted most beloved tutor by his students. As if.
Featuring Pavel ‘Pasha’ Talankin, Pavel Abdulmanov, the students of Karabash Primary School.
Dir David Borenstein, Pro Helle Faber, Alžběta Karásková and Radovan Síbrt, Screenplay David Borenstein, Ph Pavel Talankin, Ed Nicolaj Monberg and Rebekka Lønqvist, Music Michal Rataj and Jonas Struck, Sound Kevin Bavnhøj, Teis Syvsig and Peter Schultz.
Made in Copenhagen/Produced by PINK/ZDF/Arte-BBC.
90 mins. Denmark/Czech Republic/Germany. 2025. UK Rel: 14 October 2025. US Rel: 21 January 2026. No Cert.
