Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 20 February

Navalny (Roher, 2022)

The news over the weekend that Russian dissident politician Alexei Navalny had died in the Arctic prison where he was incarcerated came as a shock but not a surprise.

The assumption (from Joe Biden on down) is that he was the victim of an assassination by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and, seeing as he had already been the victim of an assassination attempt in 2020, further attempts on his life seemed inevitable.

We know about the first attempt – a Novichok nerve agent in his underpants of all places – from Daniel Roher’s Academy Award-winning documentary, just called Navalny, in which he and his team in Switzerland investigate the attack and get some of the perpetrators to admit the crime on tape.

The fact that these Russian security personnel don’t seem to be the sharpest knives in the draw is less of an indictment of Putin’s regime than it first appears. Russia doesn’t necessarily want these things to be a secret because they do more than just dispose of individually annoying opponents.

Roher’s film, then, works on multiple levels.

It’s a thrilling whodunnit, as Navalny’s team gets to the bottom of his underpants (so to speak). It’s a portrait of an incredibly brave man who returns from exile knowing what is likely to happen next. And, it’s a call to arms to anyone who thinks that Russia under Putin can be negotiated with.

Navalny was also a Russian nationalist and, maybe, could have gone down an authoritarian path as so many Russian leaders have done, but he was furious about corruption, passionate about democracy and brilliantly articulate about Putin’s toxic impact on Russia and the world.

The film is essential, now more than ever.

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Where to watch Navalny