Polish director Patryk Vega has produced a kind of horror film as an artistic protest: using AI technology, he transforms Russian President Vladimir Putin into a fictional film character who, based on many true events, guides him through the Kremlin chief’s biography – and makes him weak and scarred in 2026, according to a clinic.
The result is a richly illustrated biography that, as expected, does not let Putin down. Vega, whose works are repeatedly condemned by critics as vulgar cinema, delights in a president who once shakes in a hospital bed, half-naked in diapers, and then lies dirty on the floor and is washed by the staff.
Filmmakers may also have seen the constant speculation about Putin’s health as a source of inspiration. The Kremlin has repeatedly emphasized that Putin is in good health. In real life, the Kremlin boss has shown himself in the past as a swimmer, judo or ice hockey player. But the film stars an aging Putin nearing the end.
Lots of made up images
The film, based on many true events, moves the modern-day action about an ailing Putin and his general, played by Thomas Kretschmer (“Stalingrad”), to the year 2026. The character resembles the real 72-year-old Putin, whose life stages then are reeled off in this way, as they are largely known from critical biographies.
Yet there are plenty of fictional images. An example is the film scene at the presidential office, where Putin interacts with gymnast Alina Kabaeva, who is ridiculed as Russia’s most flexible woman, as his shocked wife Lyudmila enters the office. The Putin figure says he wants to erase her from the history books as First Lady. The affair with Kabaeva was never confirmed – and Putin and his wife announced their divorce on cameras during a visit to the theater in 2013.
Brutal scenes from a life
The viewer is immersed in a long life, including Putin’s time as a KGB officer with a traumatic stopover in Dresden and his return to his hometown of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), where he made a career in city government amid the chaos and mayhem. crime from the 1990s. Mayor Anatoly Sobchak was his political foster father at the time. The film is also about the legend according to which Sobchak was murdered while Putin was already in Moscow, so that his insider knowledge would not become a danger before the 2000 presidential elections.
The murder scene is burned into the viewer’s mind – Sobchak officially died of a heart attack. In addition to the targeted elimination of President Boris Yeltsin, who was mainly portrayed as a drunkard, it is one of several key moments intended to illustrate Putin’s unscrupulous thirst for power. We see a Putin haunted by the ghosts of the past, who mainly uses wars such as in Chechnya and today in Ukraine as a means to maintain power.
The focus is not on the device, but always on Putin, the former intelligence chief, who also organizes explosions in residential buildings to subdue the people of the country with fear. Director Vega focuses on the terror that spread under Putin in the early years. The hostage crisis in the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow (2002) and the one in the school in Beslan (2004) are depicted here.
You see how cities are in ruins due to bombing, including in Ukraine. And last but not least, the massacre in the city of Bucha, not far from the capital Kiev, is commemorated, which is considered a symbol of Russian war crimes. To this day, Putin denies any responsibility for this.
No new information about Putin
The result is an image show of the worst crimes, which viewers can also see as a form of artistically condensed protest against Putin. In Russia, its strict film licensing approval practices prevent the film from being shown in cinemas. At least even the state media announced that the film existed.
Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi said the film was on the bottom shelf. The former intelligence officer is suspected of involvement in the murder of Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko. He died in London in 2006 from the radiation poison polonium 210.
Film sometimes frighteningly close to reality
“Putin. All in all, War will come’ is not a completely absurd film, but shockingly close to reality. Above all, Vega also explores the question of what happens if someone like Putin is not stopped. So nothing good can be expected in the future.
And so everything ultimately culminates in the big question in the geopolitical confrontation of our time, whether Putin, as head of the largest nuclear power next to the US, will finally resort to the last resort – according to the motto: behind me the flood.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
