A zealous political activist, Russian teen Masha Drokova was already becoming a power broker before her 20th birthday: a high-ranking spot in Vladimir Putin's youth brigade NASHI, her own TV-punditry talk show and near-rock-star status due to her getting smooched by the country's prime minister during a photo op. Then Masha ends up befriending some anti-Putin leftists---including journalist Oleg Kashin, who's mysteriously beaten after criticizing the administration. Will Masha join the dissident crowd? Lise Birk Pedersen's doc offers some compelling peeks into Russia's bureaucratic skulduggery, but her attempt to frame the situation through a young convert's coming of age never really coheres. Innocence was lost; so, apparently, was much of the insightful commentary.
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