Parents' Guide to Navalny

At times jaw-dropping, this documentary deserves its 2023 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature Film. In Navalny, Alexei Navalny does his best to try to run in opposition to Vladimir Putin. Navalny calls Putin and his party, United Russia, a party of "crooks and thieves" and wants to "bring justice, free speech, and a free press" to Russia. Navalny hopes to attain office to change Russia's systems of corruption. Meanwhile, he draws the direct ire of Putin, who cannot even say Navalny's name publicly. Through camera phone footage and the documentary film crew following him around leading up to December 2020, Navalny is often captivating, calculating, and energetic, mostly appearing happy and excited for his cause, despite the danger he's in. Gaining followers and popularity throughout his journey, including through his attempted assassination, Navalny will come across as courageous to many, but for some others, he will look naive, the latter a sad fact that is driven home by the end of the film.

In many ways, Navalny serves as a model for what Amnesty International refers to as "prisoners of conscience," as well as an anti-corruption hero. But sadly, for some, his story will function also as a lesson in not angering a corrupt regime that has the power to shape public opinion with propaganda, easily ignore and deny criticisms of corruption without consequence, and throw whomever they wish (without a fair trial) into prison for many years.