To borrow a metaphor used by one of the brave activists featured here, if the recent documentary Navalny concerns the speartip, this fired-up addendum is about the spearshaft: the campaigners who defied official harassment to support the Russian opposition leader and then – when his candidature was denied – protest on his behalf during the 2018 presidential elections. With little filter, Franco-Russian journalist Alexandra Dalsbaek shoves us into their street activism and canvassing and it is thoroughly depressing how regularly they encounter accusations, notably from older Russians, that they are paid-up agitators for foreign powers.
Dalsbaek concentrates on Kolya and Milena, two twentysomething refuseniks leading a group trying to boost Navalny’s cause and unseat Putin. One of their favoured stunts is sneaking outside a state duma or FSB headquarters holding up subversive messages to photograph for social media: “Pathetic. Coward. Thief.” Milena – who reminds me a bit of Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart – is a particularly formidable pain in the neck, especially during one scene where she shows up as an observer at a polling station with far more knowledge of electoral procedure than the flunkies running it.
