Putin's Kiss (2011)
Masha Drokova is a rising star in Russia's popular nationalistic youth movement, Nashi. A smart, ambitious teenager who – literally – embraced Vladimir Putin and his promise of a greater Russia, her dedication as an organizer is rewarded with a university scholarship, an apartment, and a job as a spokesperson. But her bright political future falters when she befriends a group of liberal journalists who are critical of the government, including blogger Oleg Kashin, who calls Nashi a "group of hooligans," and she's forced to confront the group's dirty – even violent – tactics.
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hyped garbage
Great Film overall
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
The acting in this movie is really good.
To fully appreciate this documentary, you should have no idea about the political situation in Russia today. This film weaves a fictitious web about NASHI, in our Western MSM described as a Russian youth organization, much like Hitler Jugend, tasked with creating enemies within Russia. The purpose of the movie is to provide a so called inside picture of Putin and his friends. Elegantly we are taken on make to believe journey where Putin's mind less drones are attacking those labeled as enemies, opposition or Western friendly, and celebrating nationalism, pro-government and militarism. For the general viewer, the story is well framed and sits well with other current and not so current stories about Russia and its leader.
I agree with the other posters who have said that the style of this doc was unnatural and contrived. It didn't have a candid "real life" feel to it; it was like a loosely scripted reality show at times. There were culture shock moments however, like when Masha talked about what book she'd like to burn, and the march was very interesting. The vast membership of Nashi, the aggression behind the group, the funding, and all the details which made it clear that it was a tool for leveraging political control, like a mini FSB was all very intriguing. Overall though this film felt very amateur and it crossed my mind a couple of times that it could be opposition propaganda rather than a legitimate documentary. For a topic of this magnitude they should've had a much larger and more diverse pool of people to interview. With the scope of perspective being so small, the documentary felt more like a school project.
My issues with this film were as follows: - young people acting like idiots (destroying things, beating people up, 'vandalizing' cars, acting out for cameras, joining cult-like groups and leaving them as relationships go hot/cold) is hardly proof of any kind of conspiracy other than young people in Russia are the same as young people everywhere. And that douche-bag men with napoleon complexes will take advantage of them. - the Masha girl whose character arc was the film's arc was completely unbelievable. The tragedy of her is completely common - for a brief time when she was 16-17, she was very attractive. Men treated her well. Because she was a child, she didn't realize that she was being used. (To say she had a position of power in Nashi based on that film is ridiculous, as her power was directly linked to how much the leader wanted her around - that's not real power). As he gets tired of her, she moves on to where she can get that attention from someone else- a group of reporters from the other side (ohhhhh so extreme) (she calls them her friends while they describe her joining their group as great 'social entertainment, to see what will happen'). -She says it herself in her tips of public speaking: 'if you have to give an opinion, believe in it.' (paraphrased) she brainwashes herself to whatever role gets the attention. It's sad for her (although hardly unique). But it also undercuts any believability in this documentary. She's always posing for someone - whether for the leader of Nashi, the danish reporter, the director, or someone else - her 'conversations' are re-enacted and scripted into this role that doesn't seem any more authentic than anything else about her.
The documentary unfolds in the last half of the 2000s (decade) and follows a young Russian girls development in the state organised youth organisation Nashi. Starting with full faith in the systems ideas and ideals, she gradually discovers unresolvable issues between her ideals and the actual consequences of the system, this prompts her to take some difficult choices. I like the film a lot because I think it very accurately portraits a shift in youth perception of this period, from unabridged optimism due to the economical rise of Russia with Putin and the democratic thoughts of Medvedev, to a reluctant realism of the re- arrival of a Sovjet like system. Furthermore although documentary in its nature the film has a number of aesthetic pleasing scenes as well as some scenes that very sharply portrait persons and actions. I would recommend this film to anyone interested in an understanding of modern Russia.