“Antidote” review: Disturbing documentary profiles three anti-Putin dissidents

Russian President Vladimir Putin may be absolutely terrible for the world, but he is a perverse boon to the documentary genre. In addition to numerous films depicting the horrors of the war in Ukraine, there is an increasingly popular subgenre of non-fiction films about brave individuals risking their lives to fight his regime. The latest of these is a novel documentary by James Jones (Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes), which is an unofficial companion piece to the Oscar-winning film Tempestuous. Receiving its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, the ironically titled film Antidote is another disturbing reminder of the evil of the current Russian regime.

One thing that requires an antidote is, of course, poison, which figures prominently in the film. One of the characters is an anonymous Russian scientist whose facial features are distorted using a technique called “digital obscuration” (referring to a developing industry). His specialty was developing novel poisons, a product in which the Russian government was more than a little interested. When he realized that his works were not being used against terrorists, but rather political opponents and dissidents, he began reporting irregularities anonymously. Not surprisingly, he was soon forced to leave the country, although his family could not go with him immediately.

The documentary focuses largely on an all-too-visible figure: Hristo Grozev, a Bulgarian investigative reporter associated with journalism groups such as Bellingcat and The Insider. A few years ago, he investigated Navalny’s poisoning and took part in the production of another documentary. Unfortunately, such a high position does not aid in contacts with Putin. Grozew was forced to leave Vienna, where he lived. In the opening scene of the film, he talks on the phone to his father, who informs him that he has reliable information that if he returns to Austria, he will be murdered.

Accused of defaming the Russian army (we know how sensitive it is), Grozev lives in exile, in constant fear for his life and that of his father. One of the film’s talking heads, Roman Dobrokhotov, a contributor to The Insider, says: “If I were Putin, I would definitely kill both myself and Hristo Grozov. Without a doubt.”

Just like the document Tempestuouswho presented threats directed against him on an ongoing basis, Antidote tracks down Grozev, who is worried when he cannot contact his father by phone for several days. His worst fears come true when he contacts the local police and learns that his father has suddenly died. The autopsy results are inconclusive, leading him to wonder whether his father was murdered or the stress of worrying about his son killed him.

“My problem is that I feel guilty anyway,” Grozev says. “Because if I hadn’t done what I was doing, he would be alive right now.”

Another Russian opposition leader who features prominently in the film, although only in news footage, is Vladimir Kara-Murza, who survived not one but two poisoning attacks. Ultimately, he was arrested and charged with high treason, for which he is currently serving 25 years in prison in Siberia.

“Sinister is not even a good word,” his wife Evgenia comments on Putin. Since her husband’s arrest, she has become a prominent voice of the opposition. She lives in the United States but often speaks internationally to maintain public interest in her husband’s plight.

The journalists we talk to in the film do not mince their words. “Putin is a psychopath,” says one, while another comments that Russia no longer even bothers to pretend that it is a democratic state. Meanwhile, Grozew lives in constant fear, knowing that he may be murdered at any moment. “The only hope is for this regime to fall before someone follows the order,” he says with an air of resignation.