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| Movie Review: Poisoned by Polonium - The Litvinenko File Alternate Title: Murder Most Foul
Story: Alexander Litvinenko
will be remembered for the frightening photo of him in his hospital
bed as he was slowly dying from polonium poisoning after meeting two
former FSB (KGB) comrades over tea in London, in 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Litvinenko sought asylum in England after he became a whistle blower
who accused the FSB (of which he was a member) of crimes against the
people. Director Andrei Nekrasov delivers a scathing
and scary indictment of Vladimir Putin's regime to
the big screen. George W Bush looked into Putin's eyes
and declared to the world the man could be trusted. Guess what? He was
way off base. Writers Andrei Nekrasov and Olga
Konskaya in their investigation of the Litvinenko poisoning
chronicle a long list of past corruption, harassment, imprisonment,
murder and assassination by Putin and his thugs. A secondary story involves the 1999 bombings
in Moscow where over 300 civilians were killed in a two week period.
Putin pointed to the Chechen rebels and another war began. Many suspect
the FSB were the ones really involved in the bombing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_apartment_bombings
The film meanders back to 1991 as Russia was
attempting to find its way towards democracy and Putin was in charge
of food delivery to a starving Leningrad. After multiple investigations
it was found that over a100 million dollars worth of supplies never
made it to the people. It is suspected that Putin and his thugs stole
the money. This fascinating documentary is at times hard
to follow since it seems that everyone is a bad guy, spy or a snitch.
Paranoia is an easy path to follow in the film. What is clear is that
the number of journalists killed under the Putin regime is estimated
to be 21. These murders still go unsolved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journalists_killed_in_Russia Acting: Other than the thugs who claim they are innocent,
this is a documentary so this category does not apply. Predilection: I was fascinated by this story when
it first hit the papers.
Food: Are you kidding? After the poisoning? In a
moment of humor one of the interviewees is offered a cup of tea and
he nervously laughs and says 'no'.
Sex Spectrum: No sex but there is a shot of a pole
dancer's boob.
Opening Titles: All credits at the end.
Theater Audience: Surprisingly crowded.
Weather: It is Russia. It is cold.
Sappy Factor: Scary factor would be a better term.
Squirm Scale: Putin makes me squirm.
Drift Factor: I was trying too hard to follow all
of the intrigue to drift.
Predictability Level: Sadly, high.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental would be fine. Director
Nekrasov made a film about the apartment bombings called, Disbelief
in 2004
Length: Under two hours
LOBO HOWLS: 6
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