ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE to criticise Putin’s war against Ukraine on Russian state TV — though he supported the 2014 invasion of Crimea — is Karen Shakhnazarov, chairman of one of the oldest Russian studios, Mosfilm. “I have a hard time imagining taking cities such as Kyiv,” he told a Putin fan-boy host. “I can’t imagine how that would look.” He has since been branded a traitor by outraged viewers.
When many people hear mention of Russian cinema, they immediately think of the famous when ranks of Cossacks descend the Odessa steps firing rifle volleys towards the civilians gathered below and a woman loses control of a perambulator which starts its rickety downward journey.