Navalny combines documentary investigation with the tension of a political thriller. Daniel Roher follows Alexei Navalny and those around him as they examine the 2020 poisoning attempt, bringing personal experience and the search for evidence into the same narrative.
Interviews, investigation and archive material form a carefully constructed account. The work with Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev provides the centre of the inquiry, keeping the pursuit of answers connected to the people undertaking it.
Roher handles the complexity effectively. The film gives access to pressures and sacrifices within opposition to an authoritarian system, without losing the immediate drama. The telephone conversations with suspected participants in the poisoning are particularly gripping.
Camera work, music and editing reinforce the emotional impact. Information remains understandable even as the tension grows, demonstrating considerable skill in turning a complicated investigation into an involving film.
Humour provides an important contrast to the gravity of the subject. Navalny's personality gives individual moments lightness, allowing human qualities to remain visible alongside the political conflict. Those passages strengthen the film rather than distracting from it.
Navalny is a tense, thoughtful and moving documentary with a lasting emotional force. Its carefully organised investigation reaches beyond one case towards concerns about freedom, truth and courage. Roher makes the material accessible without flattening the human experience behind it.