Good concept, poorly executed.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

To fully appreciate this documentary, you should have no idea about the political situation in Russia today. This film weaves a fictitious web about NASHI, in our Western MSM described as a Russian youth organization, much like Hitler Jugend, tasked with creating enemies within Russia. The purpose of the movie is to provide a so called inside picture of Putin and his friends. Elegantly we are taken on make to believe journey where Putin's mind less drones are attacking those labeled as enemies, opposition or Western friendly, and celebrating nationalism, pro-government and militarism. For the general viewer, the story is well framed and sits well with other current and not so current stories about Russia and its leader.

I agree with the other posters who have said that the style of this doc was unnatural and contrived. It didn't have a candid "real life" feel to it; it was like a loosely scripted reality show at times. There were culture shock moments however, like when Masha talked about what book she'd like to burn, and the march was very interesting. The vast membership of Nashi, the aggression behind the group, the funding, and all the details which made it clear that it was a tool for leveraging political control, like a mini FSB was all very intriguing. Overall though this film felt very amateur and it crossed my mind a couple of times that it could be opposition propaganda rather than a legitimate documentary. For a topic of this magnitude they should've had a much larger and more diverse pool of people to interview. With the scope of perspective being so small, the documentary felt more like a school project.

To fully appreciate this documentary, you need to have some idea of the political situation in Russia today. Although technically a democratically elected government and wildly popular with the people, it is essentially a dictatorship. That's because police routinely arrest opposition party candidates (only to release them AFTER the election is over) and journalists are murdered--and so, it's actually a one-party system.This film is about one element that works hard to enforce the will of Putin and his friends. The NASHI is a youth organization that is fiercely nationalistic, pro-government and against 'enemies of the state'--though these enemies are either vague or people who simply are the opposition party. And, many elements within the NASHI then take it on themselves to attack these folks--after all, they've been repeatedly been told they are the nation's enemies! Sounds familiar? Of course, its parallels to the Hitler Youth are obvious.Instead of just doing an exposé on NASHI, this film does something very creative. It follows a high officer within NASHI--one of their rising stars. And, through the course of the film you see her gradually begin to question this need to create enemies within Russia. And, she sees friends beaten just for offering civil dissent.This film is very well-constructed, insightful and will most likely cause a strong reaction within the viewer--all hallmarks of an excellent film. Very thought-provoking--never dull. The bottom line is even if you like Putin, you can't possibly see the system as democratic when the government creates a self-serving youth group and encourages them to 'action' (whatever that means).

As someone who has very little idea what the political system in Russia has been like post Communism, all i can do is remember half formed memories about Gorbechev (remember the naked gun 2 and a half?) and half read articles about Putin from the last couple of years of hastily scanned newspaper coverage, i'm definitely not the ideal guy to say if this movie was great at depicting politically motivated Russian youth. However as a movie with a story that has a beginning, middle, and an end it works OK more or less. Story follows this teenage girl through the ranks of the Nashi youth political movement (again no idea how accurate this comparison is--but it kind of strikes me as a Russian equivalent to the "young republicans" clubs that exist on college campuses and try to be all politically active here in the states--only with severe post communist fears and paranoia about "the other"--you know the whole "if you're not with me then you're my enemy" mentality and of course waay more dangerous thanks to its government sponsoring.) As a movie--the hour and a half runnning time goes by all right enough--but i'd say roughly around the halfway point my interest started to lag just a bit--once the twenty year old version of the former teenage girl starts intersecting and fully investing herself in the plight of the reporter who we've been seeing talking in interviews about her already--the movie kind of tails off in a predictable direction--which isn't a bad thing except there's still roughly a half hour or so left of movie to get through. The subject matter was interesting enough (and informative enough--its certainly something i as the cluess American know very little about, so the doc does an excellent job of giving a informal primer on the background of rhe world of its leading lady and where she comes from.)However, the end of the movie still left me wondering why this particular person was worth knowing about...or why her story was worth a documentary of its very own. At the end of the movie, the young woman certainly seems wiser about whom she'll blindly follow around politically and whom she sees as "an enemy" but most teens aren't that wise--which makes me wonder if she's supposed to be a moral lesson for other Russian youths? I suppose she is which is nice but what was I--Joe America supposed to take away from all of this? Don't be a political pawn?