In "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," Russian indoctrination of students is on full display

Teachers are often called heroes.  Teacher Pavel “Pasha” Talankin could be called a Superhero. Talankin secretly filmed events in a Russian primary school, documenting how the Russian government indoctrinates students with pro-war messages.   

The film Mr. Nobody Against Putin, co-directed by Talankin and David Borenstein, was awarded the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 2026 Academy Awards in March.

Talankin was a primary school teacher in his hometown of Karabash, the same school he attended as a child. After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the school he loved was transformed from a place of education to one of state indoctrination.  

Seeing his own students and their family members recruited to fight, Talankin decided he needed to do something.  He found an opportunity to make a difference when the Russian Education Ministry assigned him to film events at his elementary school. He was told to submit the films and his reports and then destroy them.  Ministry officials never suspected the footage would end up in a documentary about Russia's "patriotic education" campaign for schoolchildren.

In an interview with Current Time a year ago, Talankin recalled the first propaganda lesson he filmed.

"The first lesson began very smoothly: 'Russia, Ukraine, Belarus -- we are such wonderful friends, so united. We have one language, the same fairy tales, we understand each other,'" he said. "And then the teacher says: 'But Ukraine chose a slippery path. It chose Nazism.'"

At that moment, Talankin said he realized the historical significance of what he was filming. The messages the government wants the children to absorb are clear: the invasion is a defensive war, and patriotism means unquestioning loyalty.

Flag-raising ceremonies were introduced, along with compulsory lessons to teach pupils the government's views on Russian values and world events. History books were rewritten and updated to include the latest developments, including what Russians were told was a "special military operation.” Russia's education ministry announced plans to introduce a list of state-approved toys and games for nurseries, to promote "traditional Russian values.”

Talankin met Borenstein online and filmed for two years while Borenstein directed remotely from Europe. In the summer of 2024, Talankin fled Russia with the hard drives containing what would become the documentary feature.

"At the airport, it was very scary," Talankin said. "I had tickets to Turkey there and back. And in my bag there were a lot of hard drives, a laptop, a camera."

Pro-government Russian media outlets labeled Talankin as a traitor. Talankin's mother, who worked as a librarian at the same school and occasionally substituted for teachers, was forced to resign. Despite the backlash, Talankin said he hopes the film will eventually be seen inside Russia.

During his acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, Borenstein said Mr. Nobody Against Putin is about “how you lose your country.” 

“And what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless small little acts of complicity,” he said. “When we act complicit when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don’t say anything when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it. We all face a moral choice, but luckily, even a nobody is more powerful than you think.”

Speaking to the audience in Russian, Talankin added, "There are countries where instead of falling stars, bombs fall from the sky, and drones fly. In the name of our future, in the name of all our children, let us stop all wars. Now.”

Mr. Nobody Against Putin is filmed in Russian and Ukrainian, with English subtitles. It is showing in select theaters and on various streaming services.

This is the third time this decade that a film critical of the Russian government has won the prize, following Navalny in 2023 and 20 Days in Mariupol in 2024. The Oscar last year was won by No Other Land, an Israeli-Palestinian co-production about the destruction of a Palestinian community on the West Bank.