Work Lunch & Film: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

Today, we had a company-sponsored team lunch, a reward for our hard work on the recent release - and I was eating burgers again, in Byron Burgers. Another place I haven't been to in years! It's only a short walk from the office - there were 10 of us in all, and they had a table ready when we arrived. Sadly, it was a cold day, and the restaurant was chilly too.

On these things, it's the done thing to have just a main and a drink - but looking at the menu, I discovered it's much reduced since I was last there! I finally chose the BBQ chicken burger, on the basis that I love BBQ sauce, and it was about the only one that didn't include pickles. And onion rings. And as others were having alcohol (albeit beer), I ordered a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc. As one guy joked, "and a vodka chaser!". Well, I don't drink beer, and my default size is large..! The only ones who didn't have alcohol were the two managers that were there, doubtless both looking ahead to their afternoon meetings. The guy opposite me turned out to be vegetarian - never knew that! but why should I? He was thinking he didn't have much of a choice then, but as I pointed out to him, the panel at the side said he could have a vegan equivalent of any of the options! He was fine with cheese, and had some kind of simple-looking cheeseburger.

My wine, I have to say, was watery. My burger smelled great - but when I tried to cut through it, it was impossible! It had layers and layers of bacon rind - all tough. The filling ended up spilling all over the plate, and I ate - most of - it from there. Sorry to say, the chicken was nearly as tough as the bacon. I ate most of it - most of what was left was bacon - but the onion rings, sadly, didn't appeal either, there being more coating than onion, and all of them being pretty massive. I left most to the QA guys sitting beside me, who polished them off. Hey, at least we got it for free.. but I daresay it'll be a while more before I'm back here! If I am, I'll choose a different burger, and just get them to hold the pickle..

When the conversation wasn't work-related - or salary-related - there were a few main topics of conversation: one was Ed Sheeran, who had given his name to the "tingly" sauce on the table, which the guys tried out on my onion rings. Yeah, it's not supposed to be especially hot, just - tingly. Taylor Swift was also mentioned - and as I said, I liked her because of her song Carolina, from the film Where the Crawdads Sing. Also discussed was a copyright case against a version of - Paddington Bear! created by Spitting Image. Doubtless, they were worried about the cocaine-snorting, foul-mouthed version..

Now, what occurred to me about all that was the general social observation that the best way to distract the populace from revolution is to distract them with inconsequentialities. And why that occurred to me was doubtless because, this evening, I thought film - and what came up was Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a documentary where a Russian teacher films his school to capture Putin's brainwashing of schoolchildren to fight against the Ukraine. Showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury - which, of course, I can walk to from the office. I booked - it was selling out - and used the last of my year's free tickets on it. Told my Hungarian colleague what it was about - he asked whether this teacher was still alive, and still in Russia..

Well yes, apparently he's still alive - but as we learn early in the film, not still in Russia - he appears in it so prominently, he couldn't possibly still live there, where dissent has been outlawed. The very first scene - repeated near the end - has him sneaking into the darkness, receiving instructions from someone on the phone who tells him to ditch the phone as soon as he's across, and describes how he has a return ticket so it looks as though he plans to return. He smuggled the footage out with him..

It's not all doom and gloom, this film - it wouldn't be much worth watching if it were! He starts by telling us, in a humorous way, about his hometown - Karabash - which apparently holds the distinction as the UNESCO-designated most toxic, most polluted, town in the world. As he said, however, it wasn't all bad.. and he has plenty of footage of his students, of whom he was very fond, and who treated his office as a drop-in centre. One of the saddest things in the film was his description of how they stopped coming when he started to attract the wrong kind of attention - as he said, it was a small town, people noticed he was against the war..

Ach, it's depressing though, seeing such blatant lies peddled to children. And seeing how they were made to perform a patriotic ritual every morning, goose-stepping in with the flag. One teacher in particular, interviewed in the film, is a die-hard Soviet, yearning for the good old days of assassinations. And the things he said to his class! about how Europe was suffering much more than Russia with sanctions, how we had nothing to eat (!), how we lacked Russian fuel for our cars, and all of Europe would soon be riding horses again, like the Musketeers.. and, of course, he had nothing but scorn for the Ukrainians, who were "neo-Nazis" and "brainwashed".. well, he'd know something about that. Of course, seeing the Russian kids in uniform, filing along, reminded me of nothing so much as the Hitler Youth..

Saddest of all are the stories of the kids who'd just graduated, and now found themselves drafted - there's footage of a party, full of friends, where one of the boys is getting his head shaved, ready to go to war. And there are stories of a couple of young local men killed in the war. The schoolkids have to write letters to the soldiers.. and those who oppose the war have to be careful how they phrase them..

It's quite easy, these days, to be anti-Russian - it's films like this that make you see that the common people are as much victims as anyone. A very interesting, very watchable film. I do wonder how the filmmaker's mother will manage there now, on her own.. another sad ending.

On the floor of the bus home, I saw a curious thing:

A sign, perhaps..?

Next, more distraction! with a few more days of horror. Tomorrow, I'm off to Dark Secrets: The Esoteric Exhibition at Waterloo Vaults - sounded too interesting to miss!

On Saturday, storytelling from the Crick Crack Club! Ben Haggarty and Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson are performing Stories in the Dark at the Richmond Lending Library. Sold out now, I believe. I've booked the Buenos Aires steakhouse for afterwards.

On Sunday, back with The Hideout for Good Boy - a horror film from the perspective of a dog just trying to protect its master! Happening in Cineworld Leicester Square - details announced on Tuesday - and I'm eating in Bella Italia beforehand, of course, then meeting the group at Victory House.

Next, a couple of plays. On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Lifers, a prison drama at Southwark Playhouse - was delighted I still had credit on my PAYG subscription with them.

On Tuesday, heading to Blessings at Riverside Studios - a play about a staunchly religious family in the 60s, with change in the offing. Damnit, I saw it was on CT, checked to see whether full-price tickets were more expensive, which they were - and accidentally booked one of those instead!

Wednesday is our work social - we're headed to Boom Battle Bar, which has, em, axe throwing.. among other things. Augmented reality features. Well, I missed it at Shocktober..

Next Thursday, I'm back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Cardinall's Musick, performing a choral concert at St. Martin in the Fields.

On the 17th, The Hideout persuaded me to go to Ti West's X trilogy - Pearl, X, and MaXXXine - at the Prince Charles. Never seen any of them before. Lord knows when I'll have time to eat..

And on the 18th, meeting James for our monthly get-together at The Phoenix - it's the only weekend he can, and he prefers Saturday. Ivan can't make it - Martin provisional as of yet.