AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

ilcool90 Oliver Stone is getting a lot of heat for this mini-series. The reason he gets all that heat is because western critics of president Putin can't live with the fact that the President is finally presented as a human and not as Dr. Evil like the western media usually does. Stone talked about every subject that the west is obsessed with and The President gave clear logic answers. President never badmouthed his western critics. This documentary also shows all the good things that President Putin did for his country and that he does everything with Russia's interests on the Nr. 1 spot. I am pretty sure that many people after watching this series will watch the news networks and talk shows with a huge brick of salt when the subject is going to be Russia and / or President Putin. Stone did a great non partisan job.

ratherbebocce That's the feeling I have after watching Oliver Stone's marathon (4 hrs.) series of interviews with Vladimir Putin on Showtime. I'll have to watch it all again. It's way too much to take in the first time around ( at least for me). That is due in part to the subtitles, but also the sheer volume of information imparted. The main impression I got is that Mr. Putin is one very intelligent man, a consummate statesman and a patriot. Another is that the man seems very reserved. I think that is a good quality to have when you are at the helm of a nuclear armed country. One thing I learned for sure is that my own ignorance of other cultures and Russia in particular is just stunning. So I'll thank Mr. Stone for this effort towards greater understanding of our neighbors on the other side of the world and ideological fence.**** SPOILER *****One part that made me cringe tho, was when he convinced Mr. Putin to watch "Dr. Strangelove". Even though I liked the movie as a cautionary tale about the danger of nuclear war being initiated by a rogue general, I don't think the humor translated too well. This may have more to do with my own experiences recommending movies that fell flat than anything else. Mr. Putin made some comment about the technical accuracy of the movie. OK, that's my 2c.

gtd-02312 Many of the media hawks would have you believe Stone has made Putin look good here. But they are just exercising their bias without critically reviewing the material. The fact is all the tough questions are asked, and Putin answers them. Whether you choose to believe his answers is the choice of the viewer. Similar to the doc on Castro. Putin is obviously a very clever man, and appears to be very logical in his answers. Probably the problem for Americans is that their country does so many bad things around the world, it feels like an anti American piece because nobody other then Stone really highlights these methods. I for one believe a lot of what Putin is saying, but at the same time I would be very cautious to believe everything he has said regarding the Ukraine. And as far as only a $60 billion military budget per year compared to the US's $660, that doesn't really add up. If your flying 70 bombing missions a day into Syria, that's a lot of planes and a lot of bombs and a lot of cash. Overall its intriguing to hear Putin without the paradigm of a partisan media forcing innuendo's down our throat for whatever agenda their corporate owners have. Probably Stone has got as deep into Putin as anyone will ever get, and its an interesting challenge to decide if Putin is telling the truth or not about a lot of things....

sonnygoten Having seen all 4 parts, the first thing that I noted is the highly interesting differences between Putin as opposed to his Western counterparts in style of presentation. I found Putin's style to be less glamorous, less glitzy, and less artificial compared to western (read: USA) politicians. There's one scene in which he sits rather awkwardly and keeps tapping his feet, so you see his knees bobbing up and down; and another in which he keeps picking at his finger. I also found that in his manner of behavior he seemed much less desperate for approval compared to USA politicians and, rather than delivering fast one- liners that sound good, he takes his times to answer, even making pauses and wearing facial expressions that (to me) seem awkward. I don't know if he's just THAT good of an actor or if it's simply a cultural difference, and I can't judge whether the USA style is better or worse than Putin's style, but the difference in self-presentation is still very striking to me and interesting to see played out like this.Concerning the manner in which Oliver Stone conducted the interviews, I definitely liked it. They were done in a casual manner and with room for humor (I laughed my butt off at that coffee scene in the 4th part), but at the same time they allowed room for serious topics. Sometimes Oliver missed an opportunity to ask further critical questions; sometimes he tried to agree and please a bit too much to get Putin comfortable, but I liked the overall absence of any preconceived judgmental attitudes that many western journalists/interviewers have when interacting (read: arguing) with Putin. This allowed Putin to express his viewpoints in a relatively relaxed setting without the constant need to go on the defense; and it allows us viewers to make our own judgment on the man and his ideas, without being forced into adopting the viewpoint of a patronizing interviewer.My conclusion on Putin himself: There are some points that I agree with in his vision and some that I don't, and I also think that he portrayed himself and Russia in... let's just say 'highly glowing terms that are not always deserved', but that's a given considering his current position as Russian President. I absolutely love the way he insists on calling his USA counterparts "partners", though; it feels equal parts ironic, patronizing, and yet also re-conciliatory; and I'm pretty sure Putin intended it to be that multi-layered. The man definitely has a sense of humor that I can appreciate.Lastly, I should mention that I was rather shocked by some of the news segments interspersed in the interview, especially in the 3rd part; they were highly graphic in nature and I hadn't been notified of that beforehand. So, viewer discretion is advised. If you plan on showing this to children for educational purposes such as politics class, debate teams, etc. there should definitely be an adult present in the room; and, while I'm all pro-free-information-flow and pro- education, I would even then not show this to anyone under age ten, because it's graphic and it's REAL, not ketchup.