Day by day

Putin's Kiss

Denmark // 2011 // Couleur // 84'
Russian with English subtitles

At 19 years of age, Masha gets appointed as spokesperson of the ultra-nationalist Putin-ist youth organization, the Nashi, which is supposed to protect Russia from her enemies. A fervent member of the movement and an accomplished activist, her devotion is rewarded by all kinds of privileges, including an unforgettable kiss from her idol, Vladimir Putin. The young woman starts hanging out with journalists including Oleg Kashin, a passionate defender of free speech. She is horrified by their criticism of the Kremlin and Nashi. But she starts to have some sneaking doubts… Until the day Oleg is bashed up so badly that he almost dies. At that point, in a decision dictated by her conscience, Masha takes to the street to protest against this revolting aggression.
Working with interviews, archival footage and reconstituted scenes, director Lise Birk Pedersen adroitly retraces young and impressionable Masha’s painful political switch-over. A way of effectively condemning this kind of Putinist sect that strangely recalls the Hitler youth movement.

Lise Birk Pedersen