Synopsis

He was the best-known Russian opposition figure in the world: Alexei Navalny, critically poisoned in 2020, arrested in 2021 and locked up in notorious prison camps ever since. On February 16, 2024, Russian media reported his death. Navalny was only 47 years old. The film documents how he became Putin's fiercest opponent and where he stood politically. On February 16, 2024, Russian media reported the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. He died under still unclear circumstances in the Russian penal colony No. 3 in Siberia. Navalny was only 47 years old. The film documents how Navalny became Putin's fiercest opponent and where he stood politically. Director Igor Sadreev had been secretly working on a film about the most famous Russian opposition figure for a long time. After Russia's attack on Ukraine, he smuggled the extensive filming material out of the country and left Moscow. When he arrived in Berlin, he was able to finish the film together with his colleague, the journalist Aleksandr Urzhanov. The two managed to convince companions, friends and critics to tell Navalny's career from their perspective. These interviews paint a contradictory picture of the prominent Kremlin critic: the beginnings of someone still searching at the liberal party "Yabloko", the expulsion after xenophobic videos and racist statements, the rise as a charismatic anti-corruption activist. Navalny's story becomes a gripping story about the pitfalls and dangers of striving for political power in Russia. But in a system that allows no alternatives, opposition politicians pay a high price.