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Reviews
Putin: A Russian Spy Story (2020)
Better than expected
I am very familiar with the modern history of Russia, and this miniseries didn't really bring anything new to the table for me. But it summarized pretty nicely the Putin's presidency, and I was in fact positively surprised.
However, certain major events were totally omitted from the series, such as the war in Georgia in 2008, the Sochi doping scandal, the Moscow theatre hostage crisis of 2002, the Beslan school siege of 2004, and the earlier constitution change in 2012 that prolonged the presidential terms from 4 years to 6 years.
And more effort could've been put on investigating the financial arrangements between Putin and his oligarch friends, and how they have been investing their wealth in the UK and elsewhere in the west...
Anyway, any movie or series that is critical of Putin earns a pretty high score by default. The world needs much more productions like this.
Icarus (2017)
Truth is stranger than fiction
A really unpredictable turn of events changes the direction of this documentary completely, from one man's journey in doping to a major international incident, in which the characters of the film have a central, even dangerous part..
This is one of the best documentaries ever made, and quite telling is that despite all the Russian trolls, who undoubtedly give low ratings to this film in IMDB, it still has a high score of 8.0 as of now.
Too bad not many Russians will ever see this film. Putin just denies everything and most Russians believe that the whole thing is just US propaganda, as Russia never does anything wrong and is the purest and most innocent country in the whole wide world! Putin even shits flowers! And peace-missiles!
Anyway, we definitely need more films like this, especially concerning Putin's Russia. Doping in sports is just a tiny side note in the grand scheme of Russian corruption and kleptocracy.
The Death of Stalin (2017)
I can't wait for the sequel!
It's sad that so few Soviet Union or modern Russia -related movies have been made recently. Movie makers must be scared of Putin's revenge, there is no other explanation. The country offers a plentiful source of script ideas, yet very few movies dare to touch the subject.
This is even more peculiar considering that Russia is waging a massive cyberwar campaign against the west, yet the west doesn't fight back in any way. Movies like this should be made more to give Russians some food for thought...
This satire is of course not totally accurate historically, and it doesn't have to be, it's a satire! It's not a documentary! However, it's probably much more accurate than brainwashed Russians would think! Putin has been glorifying Stalin a lot lately and many Russians don't consider Stalin as a bad guy anymore. Of course they think that this movie is just "western propaganda" and not true at all.
Quite telling is that the movie has been banned in Russia. What is Putin so afraid of? ;)
Can't wait for the sequel: The Death of Putin (2019)!