A biography of the first democratically elected mayor of St. Petersburg and the political mentor of Vladimir Putin, told by his daughter Ksenia Sobchak.
. The Case (Delo Sobchaka), Russia, 2018The story of Anatoly Sobchak, Vladimir Putin's patron
The central figure of The Case is Anatoly Sobchak. He was a democrat of the first wave in Gorbachev era and the first mayor of St.-Petersburg who ironically brought Vladimir Putin into power. Ksenia Sobchak, a daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, is a protagonist. In the beginning of the documentary, Ksenia describes the film as an attempt to reconstruct the events of the last 10 years of her father's life when she was just a kid. Ksenia tries to answer the questions why pro-democracy activist Sobchak brought Vladimir Putin, a KGB officer, into power and why Boris Yeltsin chose Putin as his successor. We uncover the events of the power succession, untold special agent Putin's operation and Sobchak's pivotal role in it and the effect of the criminal case against him.
The reconstruction helps to figure out how and why Vladimir Putin got into the Kremlin. Ksenia lacks her own memories and understanding of many events. She rebuilds her father's story step by step. This story evolves not only into the history of the country and early years of democracy in Russia, but also into a thriller with special operations, arrests and dismissals. For the first time ever, we investigate why democracy supporters split shortly before the presidential elections in 1996. It was their split that made security forces representatives' coming into power possible later in 2000. Ksenia finally has got the access to the criminal case file against her father. The well-known and respectful lawyers who have reviewed it conclude that he was completely innocent.As Anatoly Sobchak's career declines, the film depicts a vivid picture of how the security establishment, army generals and KGB chiefs, conspired against him. We see how, step by step, they regained the ground they lost under Gorbachev. When Sobchak was forced to emigrate, this was a big victory for the security establishment.At the same time, the Film describes the experience that Vladimir Putin got from his work with Sobchak. He could see where press freedom, free elections and real election debate lead. He realized that those in the inner circle could become traitors. The political experience of Sobchak's fall seems to have been one of the main lessons learned by Vladimir Putin, the lesson of what NOT to do. It is an experience of failure.
The speakers in the film include Russian top politicians and security officials, such as Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev and Victor Zolotov, the current Director of the National Guard of Russia (Rosgvardiya), who was Anatoly Sobchak and Ksenia Sobchak's bodyguard for many years. This is his first interview. Other speakers include members of Sobchak's team in Saint-Petersburg and President Yeltsin's inner circle - two Heads of his administration and chief of President Yeltsin Security service.
