A court in Russia yesterday extended the prison term, to 19 years, that Alexei Navalny is serving after a trial that Amnesty International declared a sham. An anti-corruption loudmouth and progressive political renegade, Navalny is the biggest pain in Vladimir Putin’s ass. Meet this amazing man in Navalny, the 2022 doc by Canadian documentarian Daniel Roher, an investigation into the 2020 assassination attempt on Navalny that is as gripping and as hugely suspenseful as a finely wrought fictional thriller. As a portrait of the man himself, the film is delightful: Navalny is effortlessly charming and enormously engaging; he’s even really funny, sometimes in a sardonic, whistling-past-the-graveyard way. You don’t expect a movie with such serious intent, one that could potentially have world-altering impact, to be so spectacularly entertaining. (Read my 2022 review.)
UK: rent/buy on Prime, Apple TV, and Dogwoof on Demand; rent on Curzon Home Cinema
See Navalny at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
