To watch the Oscar-nominated documentary in which many of them appear, students at Karabash School No. 1 have had to find bootlegged copies, watching the film privately on their phones or laptops.
Last week’s Bafta win for Best Documentary for Mr. Nobody Against Putin was carefully ignored by Russian state media, and the film’s Sundance prize last year was also met with silence. School staff and Kremlin officials seem united in wanting to pretend they know nothing about it.
But Pavel Talankin, a school teacher, co-director, and the documentary’s central figure, hopes the film’s Oscar nomination this month will make more Russians aware of its existence.
His footage shows his colleagues implementing a new government-mandated, patriotic education program designed to turn primary schoolchildren into enthusiastic supporters of Putin and the war in Ukraine. The documentary reveals Russia’s powerful propaganda machine in action.
“Putin’s government is doing everything it can to create a generation loyal to his politics” … Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Photograph: Pavel Talankin
Mr. Nobody Against Putin review – a teacher fights back in a powerful documentary
“I hope it will help these children in the future to understand that they were the victims of all this,” Talankin says. “This film is primarily aimed at Russians, showing them what is happening inside their schools now.”
Talankin, whose job was to coordinate and film school events and extracurricular activities, spent two and a half years documenting the mass indoctrination campaign. Footage of the classes had to be regularly uploaded to a government website as proof that staff were meeting the education ministry’s required quota of patriotic teaching.
At great personal risk, he also sent the footage abroad to U.S. director David Borenstein, who began editing it into a film.
The documentary shows compliant children, initially bored and confused by the classes, slowly absorbing the new material. Before the war against Ukraine began, they lined up to sing cheerful songs with lyrics like, “May there always be sunshine; may there always be sky.” Months later, they are seen holding their heads in worried confusion as teachers read government scripts about the Russian army’s goals in Ukraine, stumbling over unfamiliar words like “denazification” and “demilitarization.”
“Parents didn’t really know what was being taught in these classes” … schoolchildren in Mr. Nobody Against Putin. Photograph: Pavel Talankin
Soon, the school’s corridors echo with children marching solemnly through the building, backs straight, arms swinging in unison. Representatives from the Wagner paramilitary group visit to teach them how to identify and avoid mines that could blow their legs off. Grenade-throwing competitions replace regular sports classes. Meanwhile, at home on TV, the children watch talk shows where Russian soldiers discuss the war, saying things like, “We mustn’t kill them [Ukrainians] out of hate, we must kill them out of love for our own children.”
“The propaganda is very effective,” says Talankin, 34, speaking in London two days after the Bafta win. “The state spends a lot of money on it; they wouldn’t bother if it didn’t work.”
The cumulative effect of introducing these classes in thousands of primary schools across Russia’s 11 time zones is significant. “Putin’s government is doing everything it can to create a generation loyal to his politics. The film highlights not just what is happening now, but how when these children finish their education, in 10 or 15 years, a new generation of pro-Putin loyalists will emerge.””Loyalists will have been created,” he said.
This indoctrination program negatively impacts the children’s regular education. An emergency staff meeting is called to discuss why the school’s grades have fallen so sharply. Some teachers question if it’s because so much time is now devoted to the new patriotism classes. The head teacher says wearily that she would be fired if she chose to stop teaching that material. “It’s impossible to get a camera into Russian schools, so to hear her say that makes this the film’s most important scene, in my view,” he says.
Talankin is impressed that so many people in Karabash, a small industrial town in the Urals, have managed to see the film. Pirated copies were passed from person to person, he says, like the banned samizdat volumes of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s work in Soviet times. “Parents didn’t really know what was being taught in these classes. Some people have written to me with gratitude, others have said they’ll break my knees next time they see me.”
When local officials realized the film had been widely viewed in the town, FSB officers were sent to the school to speak with the teachers. “They gathered the school leadership and said: this person did not exist and does not exist, and you must not contact him; this film did not exist and does not exist, and you must make no comment on it.”
It is important for Talankin to believe the film will ultimately have an impact in Russia, because his involvement forced him to leave his family and flee the country he had lived in all his life to avoid arrest for dissent. Updated, repressive anti-treason laws were introduced while he was filming, and had his project been discovered, he faced the threat of life imprisonment.
The day after the school graduation ceremony in 2024, he told his mother (the school librarian), his friends, and colleagues that he was going on a week’s holiday to Turkey. He packed a suitcase with copies of all his recordings and left the country, hoping his bags wouldn’t be searched.
He knows he cannot return home and has secured political asylum in Europe. He believes the personal sacrifice was worth it. “It’s better to talk about problems than to be silent about them.”
In his Bafta acceptance speech, Borenstein highlighted Talankin’s extreme bravery. “He is not Mr. Nobody. He wanted to show how quickly totalitarianism can take over a school, a workplace, a government. And how our complicity becomes fuel in that fire,” he told the audience.
“When a treason law threatened him with imprisonment, he kept filming. When a police car started parking outside his house, he kept filming. And when he had to sacrifice his entire life in Russia to smuggle out this footage, he didn’t hesitate. No matter who we are, there is always power in our actions. Courage is found in unlikely places. We need more Mr. Nobodies.”
Mr. Nobody Against Putin is on BBC iPlayer (Storyville, BBC Four).
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the teacher who exposed proPutin propaganda in primary schools framed in a natural tone
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What is this story about
A teacher in a primary school discovered and spoke out about teaching materials that contained proRussian proPutin propaganda After going public she received severe threats including one saying Some parents threatened to break my knees
2 Where did this happen
The incident took place in a primary school in Kazakhstan The teacher is ethnic Russian but a citizen of Kazakhstan
3 What exactly was in the teaching materials
The materials reportedly praised Russias actions presented a onesided view of the war in Ukraine and included symbols and narratives that align with the Russian governments propaganda which were being used in a school outside of Russia
4 Why is this a big deal
Its a big deal because it involves the alleged indoctrination of young children with political propaganda in a foreign country It also highlights the risks whistleblowers face and how geopolitical conflicts can spill into classrooms
5 What is propaganda in this context
In this case it means informationespecially in a school settingthat is deliberately biased misleading or onesided to promote a specific political viewpoint and to discourage critical thinking about it
Advanced Detailed Questions
6 What specific threats did the teacher face and what was the official response
The teacher reported direct threats of physical violence from some parents and intense pressure Kazakh authorities have stated they are investigating the use of the unauthorized materials and the threats against the teacher
7 How did these propaganda materials get into the school in the first place
This is a key question Reports suggest they may have been introduced through a curriculum or supplements intended for patriotic education potentially from organizations or individuals with proRussian alignment The investigation is likely looking into the supply chain and approval process
8 What does this incident reveal about Russian influence in neighboring countries
It highlights a softpower tactic influencing young minds in the near abroad to foster cultural and political loyalty to Russia Education is a primary battleground for longterm influence
