Thoroughly researched and highly entertaining, Khodorkovsky recounts the strange story of its eponymous subject, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the famous oligarch who’s been languishing in a Siberian prison since 2003 on trumped up tax-evasion charges. Helmer Cyril Tuschi doesn’t disguise his admiration for the tycoon who defied Putin, but the docu never descends into hagiography, and along the way it delivers a pungent portrait of Russia.
Weaving together numerous interviews, archival material and stylized computer animation illustrating moments from Khodorkovsky’s life including his arrest, pic unfolds a fascinating story of the rise and fall of a man who, at the height of his powers, was among the richest individuals on the planet. But when he tried to champion reform and embarrassed Vladimir Putin publicly with accusations of state corruption, the president bit back.
Tuschi injects Khodorkovsky with a welcome playfulness. There are some fine comic moments sprinkled throughout, as when one subject illustrates his point about state power using a hungry baby hippopotamus he happens to be feeding at the time.
Along the way, the pic not only tells Khodorkovsky’s story but builds a less-than-flattering portrait of Russian society now, one populated by materialistic New Russians, drunken journalists, cynical ex-KGB men and ignorant young people who’ve swallowed the Kremlin Kool-Aid that preaches Khodorkovsky “stole” from the people of Russia. - Leslie Felperin, Variety