In the autumn of 2021, Russian-American filmmaker Julia Loktev arrived in Moscow, planning to document the harsh realities of life and work for independent journalists under Putin’s oppressive regime. Many of these journalists had just been named “foreign agents” by the Russian government for daring to investigate and report the truth behind the propaganda issued by the country’s state-run media; as a result, they have to put a lengthy disclaimer, which they refer to as “the fuckery,” at the beginning of every television broadcast, podcast recording, online article—even their personal social media posts. It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t stop these journalists from doing their best to shine a light on the human rights infringements that are dangerously close to becoming normalized during these dark days for Russia.
Then Putin decides to declare war—euphemistically described by the regime as a “special military operation”—on neighboring Ukraine, and all hell really breaks loose. As the independent media outlets are shut down, the journalists realize that if they want to stay alive and keep reporting, they’ll have to flee the country they love and want to save. Over the course of a riveting, inspiring, but also terrifying five and a half hours, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow shows us how these journalists, mostly young women, refuse to back down even in the face of unrelenting fascism.
Hello, You’re a Foreign Agent
When Loktev first arrives in Moscow, she connects with her friend Anna Nemzer, a journalist at the independent television network TV Rain and host of a show called Who’s Got the Power?, where she interviews social justice advocates and others who oppose the regime. Nemzer takes Loktev and her trusty iPhone camera inside the TV Rain studios, where the vibe is currently that of “a wake, but a fun one” in the aftermath of so many being saddled with the foreign agent designation; the station’s aesthetic is dominated by a blinding hot pink, and energetic performers sing and rap songs with lyrics critical of Putin and his cronies. There’s a sense of humor in the air, but a dark one, rich with sarcasm.
Through Nemzer and Loktev, we’re introduced to Sonya Groysman and Olga Churakova, hosts of a podcast with the cheeky title Hello, You’re a Foreign Agent; Ksenia Mironova, a TV Rain reporter who balances work with advocacy for her fiancé, a journalist who has been jailed on charges of treason; Irina Dolinina and Alesya Marokhovskaya, best friends who do investigative journalism for the outlet Independent Stories; and Elena Kostyuchenko, a reporter who has been writing hard-hitting stories for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta since she was a teenager, drawing inspiration from the photos of murdered colleagues that adorn the office walls: “It seems like a journalist has to get killed for the world to pay attention.”
Who’s Got the Power?
The journalists in My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow emphasize the importance of creating a record so that history will reflect the reality of their situation, even when it sometimes feels unreal to them as they’re experiencing it. We see them at work, shooting videos and editing interviews, but we also see them at home, talking about the current state of the country with their friends and family and wondering how much time they have left before they’re arrested or worse. They have pets, and partners, and they love Moscow, even as they compare it to Tolkien’s Mordor. Many of them are big Harry Potter fans who cannot resist the urge to compare their situation to the books, with Navalny as heroic Harry and Putin as villainous Voldemort. It’s easy to understand why they’d gravitate towards making parallels with fantasy novels, especially those where good triumphs over evil in the end; it gives them the hope that they can do the same. It’s also a reminder that, for the most part, these journalists are quite young; many of them can barely remember a time before Putin, though they do remember a time when you could at least publish magazine cover stories critical of him without being thrown in jail.
For such a long film, comprised of so many scenes of people sitting around talking, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow feels remarkably energetic and well-paced. It helps that all the protagonists are charismatic, likable, and very relatable; you spend so much time sitting around with them during the film that by the end, they feel like your undesirable friends, too. Loktev co-edited the film with her co-producer, Michael Taylor, and they do an impressive job at keeping the momentum going, especially in the first half of the film, before Putin invades Ukraine. One cannot help but wonder how the film’s arc would have developed without something so momentous happening during filming; needless to say, there probably wouldn’t be a sequel, titled My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, coming later this year.
As a citizen of the United States, it’s impossible to watch My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow and not hear a clarion call warning us that we have already gone dangerously far down the same road under Trump. This is especially striking in the scenes following the invasion of Ukraine, in which the journalists express the overwhelming shame they have on behalf of their country, and the feeling that, no matter how hard they’ve worked, they still haven’t done enough. In a country where one of our largest television networks is trying to fire late-night hosts for speaking their minds, and killing stories because they don’t give equal time to the government’s perspective, and trying to gobble up other networks and studios so they can dictate the types of news and entertainment we consume in this country…well, needless to say, independent journalism is more important than ever.
Conclusion
At one point in My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, the TV Rain journalists and others in the opposition produce their own New Year’s message as an alternative to the one Putin gives every year. Even though one of them says it’s difficult to come up with even forty seconds worth of positive content from the past year, one comes away from their message—and from the entirety of the film—with a sense of hope. After all, as long as some people are still standing up for what’s right, and not getting gaslit by government propaganda, and opposing illegal wars waged by would-be kings, there is still a reason for hope. For that reason, and so many more, My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow is essential viewing.
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow is now streaming on Mubi.
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