GREMLINS FROM KREMLIN!

A long telegram, a love letter, and a movie-length call—Hollywood’s geopolitics-shaped view of Russia

- NAVIN J. ANTONY

JULY 4, 2015.

In Washington, DC, it is Independence Day. In Moscow, it is movie night. At a sprawling estate outside the Russian capital, a former KGB spy hosts a Vietnam War veteran. The setting is Novo-Ogaryovo, the Russian president's suburban residence—for the ex-spy is none other than Vladimir Putin, and his guest is acclaimed director Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, Wall Street).

Together, they settle in to watch Dr Strangelove: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Stanley Kubrick's seminal Cold War satire. This moment, almost surreal, is captured in The Putin Interviews, Stone's four-part TV series released in 2017. Towards the end of the series, based on two years of conversations, Stone prods Putin with a blunt question: “In a hot war, is the US dominant? Yes or no?”

“Nyet,” Putin replies.

“So, it would be a case of Russia surviving?” Stone asks.

“I think no one,” Putin says, “would survive such a conflict.”

As Dr Strangelove plays, Stone eagerly watches Putin's reactions during key moments, as if wanting him to like it. The movie ends with its chilling montage of nuclear annihilation—the military doctrine of mutually assured destruction (has there ever been a more fitting acronym?) realised in fire and fallout. The room falls silent.

Afterwards, Putin delivers what is his only recorded film review. “There are certain things in this film that indeed make us think,” he says, “despite the fact that everything you see onscreen is make-believe. The director foresaw some issues, even from a technical point of view—things that make us think about real threats that exist.”

American critics were less reflective about