Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case

Created as a personal testimony and testament to the tragic life of his friend and longtime interview subject, murdered ex-FSB  agent and whistle- blower Alexander ‘Sasha’ Litvinenko, Andrei Nekrasov’s ‘Rebellion’ is both  a lament for what might have been – namely, a free and democratic Russia – and a stark, pitiless warning to those willing to ignore the mounting power and ruthlessness of that country’s oligarchical ruling class.

Shot in crude, at times almost unprofessionally subjective style, the film charts the key events in Russian history that led to Litvinenko’s defection, from the controversial Moscow bombings that were the pretext for war in Chechnya to the rise of Vladimir Putin and his pogrom against opposition journalists such as Anna Politkovskaya, who also appears. Utilising a wealth of insightful interviews and displaying a genuine, heartfelt passion for his subject, Nekrasov draws a bone-chilling portrait of a country controlled by murderous cynics, with a populace too browbeaten and dispassionate to resist. Despite some rough edges, this is a powerful piece of work.