Fearless Russian journalist Anna Politskovskaya was murdered just outside her apartment in October 2006 (we see footage of the hooded killer), one of a number of Putin era critics and investigators (she sneaked into Chechnya a number of times to pursue damning stories) to have been killed. I knew quite a bit about her before seeing Letter to Anna, a measured documentary made by Eric Bergkraut, but found it moving nonetheless. More than moving, actually, for Bergkraut not only pursues the killers (a number of interviewees implicate Putin or someone close to him) but conducts an examination of courage and motivation.
Interviewing family (but not delving intrusively on Politskovskaya’s emotional life), editors, journalists and personalities (exiled magnate Boris Berezovsky and ex-chess champion Garry Kasparov), Bergkraut skilfully dissects the murder and journalistic history. But Bergkraut’s most valuable asset is hours of unused Politskovskaya interview material from an earlier documentary. We see the dignified, gritty, seemingly unfazed investigator muse about her own death (which she could well confront, having escaped poisoning a couple of years earlier), essentially predicting it and being quite prepared for it. Anna Politskovskaya is one of those rare human beings who makes one feel timid yet offers a role model for a more courageous way forward.
Letter to Anna is essential viewing for Russian current affairs fans and researchers of the human soul.