Summary: The rise to power of Vladimir Putin.
This film is gripping, it uses a fictional format to explore real events in Russian history to talk about the inner workings of power there. To some it may be a little slow but if you care about geopolitics there is more than enough to make the film worth the watch, there was even the thought of wanting it to slow down and do more, there were events and periods it didn’t really cover such as the wars in Georgia and Ukraine.
Additionally it would have been better to not have everyone speaking English and to have the film be in Russian for the most part. Dano’s character could still narrate the story in English but the character interactions wouldn’t be in it, it would make the film feel more authentic.
Overall, a brilliant film.
5/5
Pros.
It is interesting
It merges the fictional and the real very well
You want more of it
The performances
It doesn’t treat it’s characters as 2 dimensional.
Cons.
The English accents are jarring at first
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