Cinephile № 812 “Citizen K”

Recommendation: 4/5 STARS, SHOWTIME

Plot: “The strange case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once believed to be the wealthiest man in Russia, who rocketed to prosperity and prominence in the 1990s, served a decade in prison and became an unlikely martyr for the Anti-Putin movement.

Review: For my fifth film of the 2019 AFI Fest, I set out to get a better understanding of life in current-day Russia via the documentary, “Citizen K.” When we first meet Mikhail Khodorkovsky, he is living abroad after fleeing Russia. While the film begins here, for it to be properly told, our attention needs to begin with the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. To fully understand this story, we need a firm grasp on the country’s turn toward capitalism and the men like Mikhail who filled the void. Luckily for us, the writer and director, Alex Gibney chooses to do exactly that.

In this new form of Russia, Mikhail finds himself with immense power. Along with other titans of industry, they become the oligarchs of this new world where greed trumps democracy. In a vacuum of power, they find themselves with more pull than the government possesses. In a country where communism used to be king, this seems unthinkable and, for some, unforgivable. One of those men is Vladimir Putin who also sees his rise to power during this tumultuous time.