Rating: R | Runtime: 99 minutes
Release Date: April 11th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: Warner Bros.
Director(s): Daniel Roher

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.

Alexei Navalny isn’t wrong when he says that director Daniel Roher’s interview feels like he’s anticipating the film’s release will coincide with his death rather than his victory. How could anyone involved in documenting Navalny’s publicized return to Moscow after a lengthy recovery in Germany from a poison-based assassination attempt not think that’s the more likely outcome?

Not only had Vladimir Putin tried and failed once, but Navalny and his team possessed the evidence proving it. What then did the Russian President have to lose by succeeding the second time in full view of the international media? Nothing. It’s why Navalny answers Roher’s questions. If he is going to die, there must be a record of him telling his nation to never give up.

No matter how inspiring that message is as a reason for Navalny to exist, however, the real appeal comes from its behind-the-scenes account of how that aforementioned proof was exposed. Roher’s film utilizes Alexei’s planned homecoming as bookends to show us that he would survive the poisoning and make good on his mission to keep fighting no matter the cost.

Between watching him board the plane at the start and exit it at the finish lies a year-long journey with the help of Russian investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh and Bulgarian “math nerd” Christo Grozev that’s nothing short of genius. Because they don’t only end up finding Navalny’s assailants through mined data collecting. They trick one into incriminating himself.

So, while the scenes with his family endear (it’s always fun watching a forty-something, social media-trained politician father teach his nineteen-year-old daughter new tricks on TikTok) and the climactic plane ride excites (regardless of whether you know the result), nothing on-screen beats Navalny cold calling his attackers to see if any are dumb enough to give up the game.

Except, of course, that “dumb” isn’t the right word in an autocracy like Putin’s. “Comfortable” is. Which of those men will feel safe enough to speak freely via telephone to someone who knows mission details nobody but his team and their superiors should know? That Navalny keeps his composure with every bombshell reveal is insane.

With that centerpiece on top of the “will they or won’t they” intrigue surrounding the uncertainty of his return reception, the film can do no wrong. Roher’s ability to make it entertaining and informative via an impeccable edit mixing his exclusive interview with news footage and Navalny team recordings shouldn’t therefore be dismissed.

He could have coasted on those built-in set-pieces rather than ensure he got reaction shots of every step from all those involved. He could have made it purely about the suspense rather than humanizing his subject to allow us to understand his quest and champion his resolve right alongside a fully supportive family. It’s the sort of explosive overview that can change minds in a perfect world and the perfect litmus test for exposing sycophants who readily agree with Putin that it’s all just an embarrassing cry for attention.

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Alexei Navalny in NAVALNY.