2019
6.5
9.1K
views
saved
Trailers/Videos
Citizen K
2019
6.5
9.1K
views
saved
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.
Countries:
GB, RU
Languages:
English, Russian
Runtime:
2hrs 6min
Status:
Released
Release date:
2019-12-13
Release format:
Streaming
— Dec 13, 2019
Factually comprehensive but suffers from an over-idealisation of its subject
Directed by prolific Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, Citizen K is an average documentary that provides an admittedly accessible overview of post-Soviet Russian politics, but which is unsatisfying as a portrait of its ostensible subject, failing to capitalise on how compelling Khodorkovsky's story is. This is an unscrupulous billionaire who mistakenly believed himself untouchable, who only learned humility in his nine years of incarceration in a Siberian labour camp (complete with multiple hunger strikes and the championing of prisoner rights); the one-time richest man in Russia who became one of the most outspoken critics of the president he helped to install. There's inherently great drama there, with an inbuilt character arc that any screenwriter would kill to come up with. Unfortunately, that's not Gibney's focus, and ultimately, his Khodorkovsky is an abstract symbol of an ideal, one that is far less interesting than a flesh and blood man with ideals.
For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/UqVSl