The Putin Interviews: Season 1

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Ratings

See All

6.3

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.3	Your Score
6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 47 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Season Details & Credits

SHOWTIME | Season Premiere Date: June 12, 2017

Summary: Airing over four consecutive nights, Oliver Stone's four-part interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin was recorded over a two years from over a dozen conversations.

Genre(s): News/Documentary, Talk & Interview, Documentary

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Season 1 Episodes

No episode information is currently available for this season

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Verne Gay

Jun 12, 2017

Stone humanizes the boogeyman of the 2016 U.S. election in this fascinating, rambling, and sporadically invaluable exercise. Best not come looking for balance or journalism, though. Read full review

Sonia Saraiya

Jun 6, 2017

The Putin Interviews is a destabilizing documentary that challenges Americans’ narratives about ourselves and asks the viewer to engage in a conversation with a slippery subject. It’s riveting in how dangerous and intimate it feels, leveraging its multiple camera-angles and hand-held shots to make the viewer feel as if they, too, are in the room with Vladimir Putin. Read full review

Ken Tucker

Jun 12, 2017

The conversations are conducted via a Russian translator, and you have to be in the mood to read a lot of subtitles to engage with Putin and Stone’s policy discussions, but that small effort is well worth it. There are light moments here and there. Read full review

John Anderson

Jun 8, 2017

In the absence of startling revelations, what’s fascinating about this elaborate production is the theater of it all. Also, the degrees of arrogance on display. And the unspoken motives. Read full review

James Poniewozik

Jun 9, 2017

The special is solicitous, even obsequious, but sometimes revealing anyway. Read full review

Ann Hornaday

Jun 9, 2017

That moment [Comey's Senate hearing] and many others made for far more riveting cinema than the alternately static and stagy visual and narrative design of The Putin Interviews, which consists mostly of talking-head shots of Stone lobbing softballs and Putin dutifully, dispassionately hitting them back. Read full review

The Daily Beast Marlow Stern

Jun 9, 2017

Stone not only fails to challenge Putin, but essentially cedes him the floor, allowing the cunning ex-KGB operative to spin more than the president’s toupee in a tornado. ... The Putin Interviews offer, first and foremost, a staggering display of mendacity on the part of both interviewer and interviewee. Read full review

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

User Score

Write a Review

6.3

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

User Reviews

Shokol8

Apr 23, 2018

Great interview as ever with Oliver stone, we learn a lot of new things about the complexity of Putin, and his relation with the occident and international politic scene

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

NotAmerican

Jun 14, 2017

If you read newspapers, there's no spoilers. Warning: Yes, this is my opinion, you might disagree with it.

Very interesting dive into the world of the Russian President. Stone, contrary to what journalists are saying, asked a ton of questions, several of them uncomfortable, then let PutinIf you read newspapers, there's no spoilers. Warning: Yes, this is my opinion, you might disagree with it.

Very interesting dive into the world of the Russian President. Stone, contrary to what journalists are saying, asked a ton of questions, several of them uncomfortable, then let Putin answer them and moved on. Sometimes the President did not answer them, however the footage is not edited, the voice is not dubbed and you get to see the awkward moments when he refuses to go further.

However, if you think Stone is not fighting the President enough, you can fact-check everything he says and be satisfied. Personally, I think Putin romanticizes his entry in politics for obvious reasons as he probably was a cunning little fox, but acts as if he became the Acting President out of God's will. That's the extent of his lies. When asked what he thinks of American presidential candidates he answers that Americans will elect what they deserve. Asked what he thought of Bernie Sanders, he dodged the question. To these "lies", I'd say that: President Putin incarnates Russia. And Russia doesn't have a personal opinion of Sanders. If you consider this lying, then you're in for a bad trip.

The conversations between Putin and Stone are done on the spot, without Putin knowing them beforehand and that is obvious by the amateurish feel the documentary has. There's no teleprompter or we would see it as there's nearly a dozen cameras rolling at the same time from different angles.

Putin has extensive knowledge on Russian history, international law, U.S.-Russia relations, international relations and the President of Russia shows a dying breed of Statesmen: the ones who work in the national interests of their sovereign nations.

As for the reaction from the American audience: I think Americans dislike any portrayal of a politician that actually believes in something. The American politicians being completely amoral, nihilistic and Machiavelian (House of Cards types), Americans explode of rage at the sight of someone who actually believes in what he does and does what he says.

Stone could have done what others have done before him. Attack him relentlessly, quote the State Dept. of the U.S. (As if that was a credible source) and edit the footage. But he didn't. If you don't like the answers, you can watch the hundreds of anti-Putin documentaries. You'll feel better.

This is an appreciated glimpse into the leader of the Russian Federation, a country we could potentially be at war with in the following years due to the hawkish stances of the American leadership. Oliver Stone's documentary is the chance to learn about your so-called enemy.

Gave a 9 because of rarity of this documentary. This is a one-time deal coming at a perfect time. Everyone should watch it.… Expand

10 of 12 users found this helpful102

SEE ALL 4 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

54

Series Overview
Season 1

54
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: June 12, 2017
- No episode information is currently available for this season