Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature: Mr. Nobody Against Putin tells the story of Pawel Talankin, a teacher at a school in the copper-mining town of Karabash in the Ural Mountains. The town was once described by UNESCO as “the most toxic place on Earth,” which for years turned it into a grim tourist attraction. Talankin himself recounts this in the film, immediately establishing its bitterly ironic tone.
Despite everything, Talankin likes his life. He enjoys his work, and the students like him. But in February 2022, the school receives a fax with the subject line: “New Federal Patriotic Education Policy.” From that moment on, classes are reorganized. Lessons about the so-called “special military operation” are introduced, students must learn patriotic songs and poems, and every morning begins with a flag ceremony and the national anthem.
Pawel, known as Pasha, is instructed to document these events for the Ministry of Education. He must send the videos to Moscow as proof that the school is fulfilling its patriotic duties. Increasingly horrified, the teacher records how some colleagues blindly spread distorted versions of history and downplay the war, while others carry out the orders with quiet resignation.