The Patriot

At the age of 21, Vasily Vlasov became the youngest parliamentarian in the Russian Duma. Given his abundant confidence and self-assured manner, he could have been a refreshing new voice. But Vasily’s ideals are rooted in the past - seated at his kitchen table, he explains that women should obey their husbands, and at most have a humble occupation such as nurse or schoolteacher. His girlfriend Katya, who's about the same age and has political ambitions of her own, listens on with a benign smile on her face. Vasily is the assistant and protégé of the clownish ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Strikingly, his deeply conservative party LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), which is viewed by some as fascistic, is particularly popular among young people. To a slick Russian rock 'n' roll song, Vasily walks us through the political theatre staged in Moscow during the presidential election in 2018: meetings with his supporters, campaigning out on the street, and conducting "quality control" on an outdoor market trader - calling to mind events in 1930s Germany. Vasily’s ambition to play his role right is as dangerous as it is comical. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)