Every year when the Oscars come around, people love to speculate about which films will win awards; they also love to cheer when their favorites get recognized. However, an often overlooked – but nonetheless important – category is the award of Best Documentary Feature. Documentaries have the unique ability to tell a compelling story while simultaneously informing the audience of important ongoing situations in the world. That is no less true for the 2023 winner “Navalny,” which takes an in-depth look at the state of the modern Russian government and how desperate it is for power.

“Navalny” tells the story of Alexei Navalny, a Russian lawyer and political opponent to Vladimir Putin. In particular, it focuses on the investigation into his attempted assassination, which was covered up by the Russian government. Although Putin does not acknowledge Navalny’s power and refuses to even mention him by name, Navalny is shown to be a serious threat to Putin’s regime and has become something of a figure of hope for the Russian people. Throughout the documentary, the insecurity and instability of the government is shown, as are the lengths to which Putin will go in order to retain his power.

The documentary reveals many truths that, though fairly obvious, are incredibly important in the modern day. While it is not groundbreaking to say that Putin manipulates the spread of information throughout Russia, it is still really eye-opening to see this process in motion and how it affects people. Likewise, it is inspiring to see Navalny and his team work to fight his regime. Even if their efforts fall short of fully succeeding (spoiler alert: Putin is still in power today), their relentless determination is incredibly admirable. If people do not continue to fight against corruption, it will do nothing but grow larger and stronger. Even for people who don’t battle the Russian government on a daily basis, seeing real people embody determination in the face of hopelessness is something that can inspire anybody.

Despite its serious subject matter, some of the events depicted in the film are so bizarre that it’s hard not to burst out laughing at them. Although the tyrannical power of the Russian government is given a lot of focus, its comedic incompetence is shown in almost equal quantity. Navalny’s plan to get government officials to confess to attempted assassination relies on making what he explicitly refers to as “prank calls.” Even more ridiculous is the fact that this plan actually proves incredibly effective. Navalny tells the story of a Russian official who kept getting hacked because he continued changing his password from “Moscow1” to “Moscow2” to “Moscow3” and so on, never learning his lesson. The flimsy structure of one of the Earth’s largest superpowers is greatly worrying but, at the same time, there is a lot of entertainment value to seeing the ineptitude of a corrupt totalitarian regime.

One thing the filmmakers do not shy away from is Navalny’s questionable political affiliations. There is one scene in which director Daniel Roher asks Navalny about his associations with Russian Nazi groups which Navalny brushes off as merely attempts to expand his own political backing. However, he doesn’t even seem confident in his own answer and that’s something that is hard for the viewer to forget. It’s not common for a documentary to show such a morally dubious side to a subject who is otherwise looked upon favorably in the film; this adds a lot of interesting depth and gray area to Navalny’s character. Sure, he has done a lot to fight the corruption of the Russian government, but the filmmakers do not want to depict him as an immaculate hero and that’s very respectable. Roher makes a point to show all of Navalny, the good and the bad. The bad does not necessarily cancel out the good, but it is not something to be overlooked.

“Navalny” is an incredibly gripping and surprisingly entertaining documentary, bringing to light the truths about the Russian government that should not be ignored. It depicts the good deeds of one small group of political activists without glorifying them too much. With a wonderful story and incredible pacing, it’s no wonder it was deemed the best documentary of 2022.