Pavel Talankin, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Helle Moos
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” is about the Putin-dictated shift in Russia’s schools, which was made possible by a young Russian schoolteacher named Pavel (“Pasha”) Talankin. At the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pasha was serving as the school videographer and event coordinator for Karabash Elementary School, the biggest school in what is a tiny town of 10,000 people deep in the Ural Mountains, Russia’s industrial heartland.
NEW RUSSIAN PROGRAM
At the outset of the Russian invasion, Pasha sent out an e-mail about the exhaustive brainwashing program Putin’s government was pushing on Russian schools. The New Federal Patriotic Education Program was an impediment to actual teaching. Said Pasha, “Few of us were prepared for such an effort to interfere in our ability to teach…I am a teacher forced to do the exact opposite of what a teacher should do.”
NEW RUSSIAN TREASON LAWS
David Borestein, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Helle Moos
At the outset of shooting this documentary, a 4-year project, filming was risky, but not illegal. But in April of 2023 Putin and his government passed a law mandating life imprisonment for treason. This was also a way of strengthening the laws about “treason.” Pasha faces life in prison if he returns to the only home he has ever known. Why did he leave his mother and his hometown? Pasha: “It’s a very unpleasant feeling. It’s like you’re in a room and the walls are closing in and the air is leaving. You remain trapped in the system. I love my job, but I don’t want to be a pawn of the regime.” Pasha resigned from his position, but when director David Borenstein reached out to him to discuss acting on Pasha’s idea, he decided to withdraw his resignation. Pasha stated, “I will use my camera to document the issues this school is facing.”
Impact on Students
Others in the town tell Pasha how even first graders are being asked to recite war poems. Pasha: “Since last year there is no freedom to be found here. All Russian movement is for the children’s movement.” Every day clubs are being formed that resemble the Nazi Youth Clubs of Hitler’s Day/ Victory Day, the holiest day of the year when parading crowds carry pictures of their dead veterans. The parade seems to suggest, “Maybe one day you can be a dead soldier, too.” The students are told, “We all die, but know one thing: Mother Russia will never forget you. Every warrior’s name will be carved into a plaque.”
At this point, Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in the Ukrainian conflict. Says Pasha, “It’s now time for the mercenaries to teach: marching drills, grenade throwing competitions, shooting competitions.” The film of boys as young as ten being handed guns and sighting down the length of them is frightening. They are shown handling weapons of the Great Patriotic War, including Mosin, SVT machine guns, etc.T here are scripted lessons after scripted lessons. Proof that the school is complying with the directive is required. Soon, the scripts are given to the students, as well.
KARABASH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Pasha films history teacher Pavel Abdulmanov. Abdulmanov is strictly by the Russian book. Abdulmanov: “It’s so crucial to eliminate dissenting views so there is no split in our Mother Country. If you don’t like it, go to the country that you think is better.” When asked to name the Russian historical figures he admires most, he names Lavrentiy Beria. He’s also known as Stalin’s father of the Gulag system; Viktor Abakumov. Abakumov was Stalin’s spy hunter; and Pavel Sudoplatov, Stalin’s assassin for enemies. Sudoplatov masterminded the murder of Leon Trotsky, an ice pick driven into Leon Trotsky’s brain. Abdulmanov tells his students daily that “Russia could destroy Ukraine in a couple of days” and warns that countries in Europe will “soon be riding horses” as there will be no wheat or oil from Russia. He also tells the students that “state policy in Ukraine is decided by radicals and Nazis,” suggesting that Russia must eliminate the Nazis in power in Ukraine, a good example of misinformation. In a final indignity, Abdulmanov was given a luxury apartment as a reward for being named Teacher of the Year at the school.
LASHING OUT
A still from Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borestein and Pavel Talankin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Pavel Talankin
Feeling an uncontrollable urge to lash out, one morning Pasha plays a recording of Lady Gaga singing the United States National Anthem, rather than the Soviet anthem. Soon thereafter, a police car is parked outside of Pasha’s apartment.
PASHA’S MOTHER
Throughout the film, Pasha is shown bringing his mother flowers. She works to repair damaged school books in the school library. He repeatedly praises his mother. She is a particularly dour woman who never expresses any warmth towards her only son. At one point, he says he is going to stop over with something for her that evening and she tells him “Forget it.” Her view on the changes in the school’s atmosphere: “I am sorry, but people love war. It’s always been like that. People love to shoot each other.” Also representative of the town’s collective feelings, Masha, one of Pasha’s students, whose brother is drafted into the war effort, says, “I could care less about the war as long as it doesn’t impact me personally.” This seems to be the main opinion of the town. (Masha’s brother eventually defects and is killed.)
GRADUATION
A still from Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borestein and Pavel Talankin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
Pasha is in charge of arranging Graduation Day. He addresses the assembled crowd: “My dear friends: wherever your life takes you, I wish you solid ground under your feet. There’ll be turning points you’ll have to choose. Sometimes to express your love, you must sacrifice everything, but I know that your choice will come from your heart. Thank you so much for working with me through this year. I love you very much. The time for the last bell has come.” This heartfelt speech is followed by dancing in the most toxic town on Earth and students tossing Pasha into the air in celebration.
That night, he flees Russia. He is being paid as co-director of this impressive effort for the BBC’s Storyville. Since Putin has shut down the legitimate press (much as the Secretary of Defense in the U.S. announced is happening inside the Pentagon in the U.S. right now), it is difficult to get an accurate picture of what is happening inside Russia. This film is a rare glimpse of the truth, just as “2000 Meters to Andriivka” is a unique glimpse of the Ukraine counter-offensive from Oscar winner Mystyslav Chernov (“20 Days in Mariupol”).
CONCLUSION
Pasha tells the camera, “Even a guy like me should have some principles. By June I am done here.”
This documentary was a brave act of principle in the face of an oppressive autocratic regime. It is a real treasure and should be seen by anyone who loves democracy and freedom of speech—for as long as we can keep it. This was a courageous and brave act by a young man who has risked his entire life to help alert the world to the truth of Vladimir Putin’s plans for world domination. It is an object lesson for all of us here in the United States that dictators are not good for democracy; if we want to keep our democracy, we should all pay close attention.
