When I Get Jailed

Inevitable as it seemed, the premature death of Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny on 16 February 2024 still came as a shock. Immediately afterwards, his supporters went to the monument that President Putin himself unveiled in 2017 for the victims of Stalin’s political oppression. The large crowds laid flowers, which were instantly removed by police. Over time, the commemorations continued and merged with opposition to the Ukraine war. Arrests followed, and peaceful protest has been brutally suppressed.

Among the demonstrators is Alyona, a young woman with blonde curls and a pink coat. She refuses to be silenced by police batons and is taken away. Facing absurd charges, she must undergo a trial and risk an excessively harsh sentence. Her terrified mother begs her to passively endure the political repression, and avoid getting into further trouble.

Scenes revealing Alyona’s act of resistance and its consequences—all captured up close and presumably often filmed in secret—show how Putin’s Russia has become a police state, and how many ordinary Russians are still resisting, despite the risks.