Review No.41: Khodorkovsky

All the documentaries I've watched on this list seem to focus on the presentation of notable male figures from Joseph Haydn to Bill Cunningham. The latest film, Khodorkovsky, is in this vein as it deals with Mikhail Khodorkovsky the Russian oil magnate who in 2003 was jailed for non-payment of tax. Cyril Tuschi's film opens with him asking a group of Russian youngsters if they know who Khodorkovsky is and one answers - the guy who stole all that money. It is then as if Tuschi goes to show us what Khodorkovsky the man is actually like from his beginnings as a student through his marriage to the founding of his oil company Yukos. I found this was a story of a man who didn't want to be a flash geezer, or whatever the Russian equivalent is, instead using his money to create new schools as he didn't want to spend his wealth as that's what he wasn't about. After the change in power, namely Putin becoming president, who didn't like Khodorkovsky's hope for an open Russian economy and the fact that he was looking to sell parts of his business to the American. From then the film told a story of two men at a loggerheads and it became bigger than just telling Khodorkovsky but instead giving us an overview on the current political situation in Russia. As we know Khodorkovsky ended up being jailed and his incarceration was extended in 2010 but as the film ends a small interview with the man himself reveals that he doesn't seem that moved by the fact that he is in prison however his family seem to miss him.

Not being a keen follower of Russian politics, Putin isn't as entertaining as Berlusconi, I wasn't aware of Khodorkovsky as a businessman or as a prisoner. It is an interesting tale of a man who couldn't stop doing what he was doing until he was stopped by a president who wanted his country run in a certain way. What I enjoyed about the film was at times the talking heads were intercut with small animated film illustrating parts of Khodorkovsky's story which I have to say put this a little ahead of some of the drier docs that I've viewed. Having said that there were far too many talking heads to really care about the connections that most of these people had to Khodorkovsky. Of course those confessions from his business partner, his mother and his children were better than those of acquaintances and commentators. In a way I couldn't help comparing this to the far superior Inside Job in that they're both about financial cover-ups but that was a lot more compelling. I'm not saying that there isn't skill and interest within Khodorkovsky the film but there are segments which are fairly uninteresting.

Verdict: An interesting topic is covered with some visual flair but far too many talking heads that don't add anything to the conversation so unfortunately I can only give this 6/10