Mikhail Khodorkovsky is charismatic and mercurial. It’s not difficult to see why Alex Gibney chose him as the focus of his new film. After thriving in Russia in the 1990s and amassing incredible wealth from the oil industry, Khodorkovsky became a nuisance to Vladimir Putin, who subsequently had him jailed in Siberia for ten years. Now living in exile in the UK, he orchestrates a far-reaching anti-Putin campaign. Through this story, Gibney charts Putin’s rise to power, the golden years of the oligarchs and an era of gangster capitalism, combining archive footage and interviews with various journalists and Khodorkovsky himself. Unfolding like a gripping political thriller, Citizen K is an urgent and topical account of a culture dominated by fake news and the rise of Russia’s alleged meddling in politics beyond its borders.

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