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KPCW sends its most discerning moviegoers to the movies each week to let you know which films are worth going to and which are a pass. The Friday Film Review airs at 7:20 a.m., during the Noon News and in The Local View. KPCW Friday Film Reviewers are: Barb Bretz, Rick Brough, Mark Harrington and Linda Jager.

Friday Film Review | 'Navalny'

Navalny
Dogwoof Distribution
Navalny

Making its debut at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, the award-winning documentary "Navalny" hits the small screen on CNN Sunday night, telling the fascinating story of one of Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics.

The real-life story of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny could easily have been ripped from the pages of a spy novel. Instead, the anti-corruption activist, and political rival of Russian President Vladimir Putin is the subject of Director Daniel Roher’s new documentary, Navalny.

For more than a decade, Navalny has been an outspoken critic of Putin. He’s led countless protests and amassed a massive following of supporters on social media, where he shares controversial content about government corruption in Russia. And in 2018, he unsuccessfully ran against Putin in the presidential election.

In 2020, Navalny became gravely ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Siberia, where Navalny was quickly rushed to the hospital, where he was put into a coma.

His colleagues, piecing together a series of events that led up to that flight, suspected Navalny was poisoned by a cup of tea he drank at the airport before boarding the plane.

Suspicious of the Russian government’s involvement, Navalny’s wife insisted that he be evacuated to a hospital in Berlin for treatment. Shortly after his arrival, the German government announced that Navalny was indeed poisoned with Novichock – the nerve agent that has also been referred to as Putin’s weapon of choice used to silence his critics.

Roher opens the film with an interview of Navalny. Now recovered from the ordeal, he reflects on the series of events that led up to the poisoning. Throughout the film, Navalny partners with Christo Grozev of Bellingcat, an investigative news agency, and Mariya Pevchikh from Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, as they build their case supporting the theory that Putin ordered the assassination attempt.

The film won the Festival Favorite and U.S. Documentary Audience Awards at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a real-life spy thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat or couch throughout its 1-hour and 38-minute run time.

Rated R, Navalny is now playing in select theaters and will air on CNN on Sunday night. It’s a film worth watching that’s particularly interesting in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

One of KPCW's Friday Film Review, reviewers.