I have just finished watching Pavel (“Pasha”) Talankin’s Academy Award-winning documentary, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin.” And I can’t stop crying.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit to a certain prejudice in my judgment of this film. As my regular readers know, I have a connection with Russia . . . in fact, several connections . . . and thus will read, watch, or listen to virtually anything related to that poor, misbegotten land.

First, my DNA is 99% Russian (the other 1% is rather odd). All four of my grandparents came from the Russian Empire to the United States in 1905 — that part of old Russia that is now Ukraine. So, while my political sympathies today lie entirely with the sovereign nation and the people of Ukraine, I was taught as a child that I was of Russian descent.

Because of that background, I later undertook to immerse myself in Russian studies: the language, history, politics and culture of one of the most fascinating, enigmatic, perpetually downtrodden places on Earth.

And in the middle part of my life, I found myself putting those studies to good use when I lived and worked in Moscow in the early 1990s.

So I have an emotional attachment to the place, and especially to the people — who, despite the efforts of the Putin regime to turn them into obedient servants of the state, I found to be among the warmest, most generous, most soulful people to be found anywhere.

Which is why, as I watched Pasha Talankin’s report on the effect of Putin’s war in Ukraine on the people — and specifically the children — of Russia, my heart shattered. Because I recall all too clearly the “Young Pioneers” of the Soviet era . . . now being reconfigured as “Young Patriots,” complete with chauvinistic recitations, propaganda films, rewritten textbooks, and the too-familiar red hats and neck scarves of bygone days.

These are kids who never knew the Soviet Union; they have lived their entire lives in the “new Russia” — with all of its open communications, modern conveniences, and opportunities. And now they are being fed the same propaganda and subjected to the same form of mind control that their parents and grandparents fought so hard to vanquish.

Their teachers have been given rewritten textbooks, new curricula, and new activities with which to indoctrinate their students, beginning with the very youngest. Most of the educators hate the changes . . . with some exceptions, of course, such as one history teacher in Pasha’s own school. But they know that their only options are either to obey orders, quit their jobs, or protest and risk being arrested.

In 2023, Pasha decided to resign the position he loved rather than be complicit in Putin’s tyranny. But, as school videographer in charge of filming all of the school’s (and some of the community’s) activities, he saw an opportunity to take positive action. Despite the risks, he withdrew his resignation, and began secretly keeping unedited copies of his films, which he was able to smuggle out to a movie director in the West.

And in 2024, with people in his small town beginning to avoid him because of his anti-war stance, and a mounting suspicion that he was under surveillance, he made the agonizing decision to leave his mother, his friends, his students, and the home he loved.

He stayed long enough to celebrate his senior students’ graduation with them. Then, under the guise of a one-week vacation, with a round-trip ticket that would only be half-used, he fled Russia.

And in the West, he and his co-director, David Borenstein, took his videos and made them into a simple, honest, low-key documentary that has taken the world by storm.

*. *. *

I would love to share some screen shots of Pasha’s video with you, but to do so would undoubtedly constitute a copyright violation. All I can offer instead is my strongest recommendation that you watch it for yourself.

And prepare to be moved to tears.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/24/26