tiny lemmy 

‘I can say Putin is an idiot — I have that freedom. In Russia that would be dangerous.'

c/europe · u/Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org · 119 points

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***From grenade-throwing contests to marching drills, Pasha Talankin filmed how his school was being used as a military recruiting centre. Now the teacher turned film-maker is in hiding.***

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[...]

The teacher, Pasha Talankin, was talking to himself, facing his own crossroads, terrified of his own secret plan. Or, rather, talking to every one of us who wonder: what if an accident of history put me, little me, in a situation where I had a moral choice, where to do the right thing risked not just my comfort but my life?

[...]

His documentary, *Mr Nobody Against Putin*, is a cross between *School of Rock* and *Nineteen Eighty-Four*, a surprisingly funny study of how authoritarian regimes break the spirit of all except the most unlikely and pig-headed. It’s at first about a place that couldn’t be further from our minds: a school community in Karabash, a place Russians regard as the back end of nowhere. Yet it’s also relevant to us all: when *Mr Nobody Against Putin* won the jury prize for international documentary at the Sundance Film Festival the audience gave a standing ovation, many talking of their own concerns of a future where they could be asked to say things they did not believe. Partly produced by a team from the BBC, the film gets its UK premiere at Sheffield DocFest today. I say to Talankin I hope he accepts my definition of him as heroic.

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[Edit typo.]

Comments

u/Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee · 27 points

There’s a fun joke my dad used to tell me:

A Russian and an American are speaking, when the American says:

-America is a lot more free than Russia

The Russian replies:

-Why do you say so?

The American says:

-Right now, if I wanted, I could go down to Washington DC, enter the White House, go down to the Oval Office, and tell the president of the United States himself that I think he is an idiot, and I’d suffer no consequences

The Russian replies:

-Oh yeah? Right now I could go down to Moscow, go to the Red Square, enter the Kremlin, go in front of Putin, and tell him face to face that I think the President of the United States is an idiot