Movie Review ‘Navalny’ — Alexei Navalny’s Dangerous Life

Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s cleverest and most courageous antagonist, says that he assumed that once he became famous years ago, “It will be problematic for them just to kill me.” Pause. “Yes, I was very wrong.”

In August of 2020, the journalist-comic-dissident-politician noted how strange it was not to be hassled by police while campaigning in Siberia. He would find out why he received such gentle treatment on the way home, when he became violently ill. On the long flight from Siberia to Moscow, he would have died had the pilot not made an emergency landing and arranged for emergency life-saving measures at the nearest hospital. When his wife managed to get him to a hospital that wasn’t overrun with Russian agents, in Berlin, doctors declared that Navalny had been poisoned with Putin’s signature murder weapon: Novichok, a lethal chemical that can infect merely by touching the skin. Putin might as well have left a signed autograph on a knife before plunging it into Navalny’s back. “Murder,” says Navalny, “is a terrific way to solve problems. But once you’ve started killing, it’s hard to stop.”

About the Author

Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith is the film critic for the Wall Street Journal.

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Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s cleverest and most courageous antagonist, says that he assumed that once he became famous years ago, “It will be problematic for them just to kill me.” Pause. “Yes, I was very wrong.”

In August of 2020, the journalist-comic-dissident-politician noted how strange it was not to be hassled by police while campaigning in Siberia. He would find out why he received such gentle treatment on the way home, when he became violently ill. On the long flight from Siberia to Moscow, he would have died had the pilot not made an emergency landing and arranged for emergency life-saving measures at the nearest hospital. When his wife managed to get him to a hospital that wasn’t overrun with Russian agents, in Berlin, doctors declared that Navalny had been poisoned with Putin’s signature murder weapon: Novichok, a lethal chemical that can infect merely by touching the skin. Putin might as well have left a signed autograph on a knife before plunging it into Navalny’s back. “Murder,” says Navalny, “is a terrific way to solve problems. But once you’ve started killing, it’s hard to stop.”