The first Documental del Mes of 2020 in Teatro Guiniguada was Los testigos de Putin (Putin’s Witnesses), in Russian with Spanish subtitles. The film opens with a home video footage on the New Year’s Eve 1999. We hear Yeltsin’s resignation speech on the Russian TV. In contrast to Mansky himself at the time (I think), his wife immediately realises what’s going on and what’s in store for Russia and Russians.
No, I didn’t learn much new about our eagle Don Reba from this documentary, but many half- or well-forgotten facts and faces came rushing back. In my humble opinion, these are the three key scenes:
- The spookiest: the one at the 2000 presidential campaign headquarters and Mansky’s “where are they now?” commentary. Of all the people in the room, only trusty Medved, at the time of the film’s release, was still flying high; not for much longer though. Incidentally, Stierlitz gets mentioned as if to remind us what was the first profession of our Dobby.
- The most poignant: the one where Boris Nikolaevich, the very same election night, tries (unsuccessfully) to phone his protégé and congratulate him. The naïveté of the ex-president is astounding and yet something that one could fully expect from him. In spite of, or thanks to, his many flaws, Yeltsin was only a human being — quite unlike his successor.
- The creepiest: Mikhalkov & Mikhalkov at the recording of the “new” (Stalin and Lenin out, the God in) State Anthem. As Father Ted put it, “Funny how you get more right-wing as you get older”.
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