Review: A portrait of a Putin opposition leader in ‘Navalny’

12.04.2022 - 21:09 / abcnews.go.com

“ Navalny ” is so taut and suspenseful you’d think John le Carré had left behind a secret manuscript that’s only just coming to light now.This spellbinding portrait of a Russian opposition leader following an attempt on his life has all the makings of a Hollywood thriller. It has shadowy operatives, truth-seeking journalists, conspiracy theories, Soviet-era poisons and, at its center, a handsome, altruistic family man risking his life to fight a would-be despot.But “Navalny” is not fiction.

And it’s somehow even more chilling and prescient now than it was just three months ago when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival hours after Russian authorities officially added Alexei Navalny to their registry of terrorists. Thanks to Fathom Events, audiences can see it in theaters starting Tuesday.

It’ll be broadcast on CNN and streamed on HBO Max later this year.For the uninitiated, Alexei Navalny is a media savvy, anti-corruption campaigner in his mid-40s who has for many years been a headache for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s released numerous reports about corruption in Russia and the Putin administration and become a popular and rallying figure among like-minded Russians.

The media has called him the Kremlin’s fiercest critic. And he is seemingly undaunted by the intimidation and the arrests he’s endured.The fame, he thought, might even make it more problematic for him to be killed, he tells director Daniel Roher in the documentary.“Boy, were you wrong,” Roher says off camera.“Yes, I was wrong,” Navalny says.Roher was able to sit down with Navalny during his brief stay in Berlin in 2020 and early 2021, while recovering from being poisoned and seeking the truth behind the unsuccessful murder attempt.In August