Putin's Kiss (2012)

Director:

Lise Birk Pedersen

Release Date:

17 February 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Drama

Tagline:

What happens when your enemies become your friends?

Plot:

19-year old Masha is a spokesperson in the government friendly and strongly nationalistic Russian youth organization...

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Oleg Kashin
Vladimir Putin	...	Himself

Directed by
Lise Birk Pedersen

Produced by
Helle Faber	....	producer

Original Music by
Tobias Hylander

Cinematography by
Lars Skree

Film Editing by
Janus Billeskov Jansen
Steen Johannessen

Sound Department
Peter Albrechtsen	....	sound designer
Peter Albrechtsen	....	sound re-recording mixer
Asser Borgen	....	sound effects editor
Jacques Pedersen	....	sound editor

Editorial Department
Mette Hoffman Meyer	....	commissioning editor: DR

Music Department
Peter Albrechtsen	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Dmitry Saltykovsky	....	miscellaneous crew

Distributors

• Kino Lorber (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Against Gravity (2012) (Poland) (all media)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Denmark | Russia

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Scary but very well made

To fully appreciate this documentary, you need to have some idea of the political situation in Russia today. Although technically a democratically elected government and wildly popular with the people, it is essentially a dictatorship. That's because police routinely arrest opposition party candidates (only to release them AFTER the election is over) and journalists are murdered--and so, it's actually a one-party system.

This film is about one element that works hard to enforce the will of Putin and his friends. The NASHI is a youth organization that is fiercely nationalistic, pro-government and against 'enemies of the state'--though these enemies are either vague or people who simply are the opposition party. And, many elements within the NASHI then take it on themselves to attack these folks--after all, they've been repeatedly been told they are the nation's enemies! Sounds familiar? Of course, its parallels to the Hitler Youth are obvious.

Instead of just doing an exposé on NASHI, this film does something very creative. It follows a high officer within NASHI--one of their rising stars. And, through the course of the film you see her gradually begin to question this need to create enemies within Russia. And, she sees friends beaten just for offering civil dissent.

This film is very well-constructed, insightful and will most likely cause a strong reaction within the viewer--all hallmarks of an excellent film. Very thought-provoking--never dull. The bottom line is even if you like Putin, you can't possibly see the system as democratic when the government creates a self-serving youth group and encourages them to 'action' (whatever that means).