Our New President

While the 2016 presidential elections polarized the US and obscured the distinction between truth and falsehood, the Russian media’s take on the events was far more distorted and deceptive. Pozdorovkin’s (Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer) fascinating documentary is a compilation of news clips, archival footage, and home-movies that offers a glimpse at the frenzied reality under Putin’s iron fist: a government-owned and controlled media that nurtures rumors about the Clintons’ past as drug addicts and serial killers. Where truth is but one of many alternatives, it comes as no surprise that the Russians celebrate Trump’s victory; however, only until they become aware of his instability, and the bizarre honeymoon becomes a viral embarrassment.