Pavel Talankin is the humble, one-man event coordinator and videographer at the Karabash Primary School #1, and he probably still would be if Russia had not invaded the Ukraine, then implemented the New Federal Patriotic Education Policy thus giving him a front row seat to witnessing the militarization of children and glorification of a death cult. Talankin struggles with his complicit role in the brainwashing of his students as the local filmmaker whose footage is used for propaganda while all his neighbors know his true sentiments. After two and a half years, he books it when there are signs that he is attracting the wrong kind of attention and brings the footage with him, which is how this documentary gets made. “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” (2025) may be one of the best participatory documentaries of the twenty-first century. Is it too early to call it? The 98th Academy Awards awarded an Oscar to Denmark’s submission for the “Best Documentary Feature Film” category.
If you are an American watching “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” you may be shocked that Russian schools have a post devoted to organizing and documenting the activities at a school in the allegedly most polluted town in Russia, its former claim to fame. Talankin is the narrator, and if he lived in less interesting times, he is not the kind of guy who would attract international attention. He works at the same school that he went to, and his mom is his coworker. No one cares if you are a nepo baby if you are talented, but maybe he had more of a margin because she is nothing like him. She just stays in the empty library mending books and never taking the bait. She refuses to talk about anything controversial. He alludes to his friends, but they only appear in photographs towards the end of the film. He may be the popular teacher that all the kids hang out with. He even gets invited to their parties outside of school, which would raise eyebrows in the US. He talks about being different without details and sounds as if he is alluding to more than his political beliefs.
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” appears credible and not just Talankin exaggerating, editorializing and overreacting because the entire school, including ardent supporters of the war and Putin, appear in the film. Because it is Talankin’s job, he has a ton of footage of quotidian school life and can show how the tone alarmingly changes over time. Most of the teachers and students are not individuated except for Talankin’s foil, Pavel Shaihovich Abdulmanov, the history and social science teacher, who enthusiastically supports the change in policy. He is not a windvane going with the flow and willing to brown nose on anything. Nope, Talankin interviews Abdulmanov about his heroes, and it is not a great list. It is a group of men known for exercising institutional violence to promote the Soviet agenda, not just people with ideals that one could politely disagree with. The documentary offers context and botches the lesson for one person on the list, but within an acceptable margin of error. Abdulmanov is only one link to an oppressive Soviet agenda except instead of an ideology, Putin is the ideology.
If someone wanted to detract from Talankin’s argument that the school is escalating in militarizing its curriculum, and it was always like this by saying that maybe he deliberately omitted earlier signs, that notion gets dispelled when the activities escalate as “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” unfolds. His disdain for Abdulmanov could be dismissed as envy, and Abdulmanov could be a guy having a good, temporary streak. Talankin sees a Victory Day celebration as grooming children to be more eager when the draft comes. That holiday could be deflected because people should glorify their relatives who died in World War II fighting the Nazis. The random pro war rally is not exactly rousing though enthusiastic. Because the size of the town is a concept, not visceral, it is easy to rationalize the actual numbers. Kids start wearing camouflage, which is not great, but hey, I have a couple of camouflage shirts that I enjoy wearing with pink blazers. Little boys like to play war. It is normal. Ye without camouflage gets the September issue of Vogue.
A grenade throwing competition is well, a grenade throwing competition and an undeniable red flag, but it is not just the tip of the iceberg. The reddest of red flags is a complete shock. Mercenaries speak about war safety at a school assembly. Not veterans, not currently enlisted soldiers with experience who are also neighbors and loved ones, mercenaries. Cue Regina Hall with her hands over her head. OK. Allegedly it is not legally supposed to exist. What the fuck? There is not currently an American equivalent. Read the link. Do your own research. Nope, while Talankin likely crossed ethical filming standards when he used footage of kids consented for one purpose then used for another, this documentation of such inappropriate adult conduct makes “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” feel as if it is historical documentation necessary to preserve so later, people cannot pretend it did not happen. If anyone wanted to discredit Talankin (he does not introduce his cat in the introduction), it becomes much harder considering what the school parades proudly before his camera. Still if Talankin was in danger and had to leave, what happens to the kids, especially Masha, who he left behind and appear in the film with their true sentiment on display?
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” makes the argument that the militarization of the school does not only warp children’s minds, so they get groomed to run towards death, but it hurts their ability to get an education. This documentary would make a great double feature with “The President’s Cake” (2025). There is one teacher’s meeting where everyone is freaking out over grades plummeting. Correlation is not causation, but giving scripts to kids and teachers so they can recite canned lessons for the camera cannot be helping. On the other hand, kids without an education mean less challenge to power.
So far, other than the Ukraine, all the challenges to Putin’s power from the most educated people seem to be principled, but ineffective. Talankin is no different, and he risks life imprisonment when he *checks notes* uses masking tape to change Zs into Xs, plays Lady Gaga and lowers the Russian flag that is normally on roof. That summary is not to mock Talankin, but to note the absurdity that any of these actions are harmful. The trailer for “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” uses Putin’s words to describe Talankin, “Commanders don’t win wars. Teachers win wars.” Let’s hope so, but he is not a teacher anymore.
Michael Moore, watch out. Does Talankin have what it takes to continue the hard work of being a filmmaker in exile from the land and people that he loves? It is the strongest emotion underpinning his work: love. Because he knows and loves this world, which creates the palpable fury over what is happening. He forgets that the audience does not know what his world was like before, but his emotion is still visceral. What will he do in exile besides win an Oscar? We need a sequel.
Side note: there is a scene in “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” (2025) when Elvis gets drafted, and he gets his head shaved. It felt as if the system was saying, “No matter who you are, we own your body and can destroy it, including and especially the looks that makes you special to so many people.” There is this gorgeous young man, Vanya, who has his friends do it before he reports, which may or may not be the procedure, but it had the same effect even though no one knows him.
