The Putin Interviews (2017)

Powerful

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I liked those hours with Putin. You don't have to like this person nor his work, but at least you should listen to this man. He is unagitated and articulates his view and interests. Also it's an opportunity to get a few insights of a man and a country which most people will never visit and only watch in the TV or read in the newspaper. Well, you won't learn much about the country but maybe some will realize there are other countries with interests too and like Oliver Stone did it: listen to them, you don't have to agree, but dialogue is the way we should choose.

I expected to see a lot of negative and biased stuff about Russia and Mr Putin especially. To my surprise it was quite opposite - the Russian president had an opportunity to speak his mind (and he does it very openly and in intelligent manner) and he was listened to. I give my respects to Mr Stone for his good work.A must-see for everyone.

Putin is a mystery to us all. Surely he is controversial, surely he is a target of our media time and time again.I read many comments saying Stone is not 'on the ball' and too soft. Which makes perfect sense. If one does interviews over a period of time one should not press too hard or otherwise the project may cease to exist.Though I am a big fan of Colbert, I think Colbert in his interview with Stone about these interviews made a huge mistake. Colbert somehow assumes Stone had to be tougher on Putin and ask tougher questions while clearly Stone is not one to judge but tried to carefully paint a picture to the world.As far as I am concerned Stone did an amazing job. He interviews Putin as if he wants to paint a picture about his life, ideology and equally discusses political and historical events. Stone presses on issues sometimes, but never hard. He gives Putin a voice and a fair chance to explain himself.When watching this, do understand it is not Stones' DUTY or TASK to hammer or judge Putin. Why should he? He merely offers insight into the mind and life of a controversial world leader. We all know the human rights violations are going on in Russia, we all know the opinions of CNN and Fox, we all think we know that Russia is to blame for everything that goes wrong. But are our truths the truths of others? Often times it is perspective and a matter of which side of the fence we exist that determines our reality.

I was kind of expecting in what direction this movie was going to go! Given that i have seen some movies from Mr. Stone and his documentaries, i knew this wasn't going to be attack as the Western journalists do. I saw it as a chance given to someone to explain himself without the need to battle with the journalists. After all when you get accused of something an go in front of a court, you are given a chance to tell your version of a story. Innocent until proved guilty! If you want to see both sides of the story, you should definitively see it! After that make your own opinion!