The Patriots Review: It Happens in a Nanosecond
"It happens in a nanosecond," my Iranian friend told me last week as she explained how her family was planning vacations to Europe one day and, the next day, escaping Iran after the 1979 revolution.
I thought about this while watching the play "Patriots" by Peter Morgan (author of The Crown). Patriots tells the story of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian oligarch who helps Putin get to power and then makes a fatal miscalculation. Boris is masterfully played by Michael Stuhlbarg (who also plays the father in the movie Call Me By Your Name) and shows how things can dramatically change in a nanosecond in unstable countries.
Boris is a math prodigy who finds many opportunities to profit when the Soviet Union collapses and privatizes its assets. He needs political allies and sees Vladimir Putin as the perfect operator - a low-ranking former KGB officer who can help Boris and his friends increase their fortunes.
The play is super dynamic, with music and dazzling performances. We took our 11-year-old son with us, and he enjoyed it. But what was most interesting for me was thinking about how power can quickly shift in countries without strong institutions. Boris becomes very powerful because of his money, his close relationship with Boris Yeltsin's daughter, and his ownership of a TV channel.
But it all changes when Putin becomes the President and decides Boris and his friends are making too much money - and not sharing enough with him. Putin uses his new powerful position to show that he will not be Boris' puppet, and the power struggle that follows is the story of how Putin consolidated his hold on Russia.
What makes the story even more fascinating are the personal dynamics and how the characters fool themselves to justify their actions. Boris believes that he and his Oligarch friends are 'saving Russia' though they are clearly robbing the state. Putin is envious of the businessmen's fortunes and also uncomfortable with how they operate. The oligarchs make their own rules, while Putin has followed strict norms learned over the years at the KGB.
The shocking and sad part is how Europe, and in particular England, has underreacted to Putin's aggressions and assassinations in their territory. In 2006, Putin's men killed Alexander Litvinenko - Boris' friend and head of security - with radioactive polonium-210 in London. A 10-year investigation concluded that Putin had "probably approved" the proposal. Europe and the world ignored Putin's actions, and we are living with the consequences of it today.
The Patriots is on Broadway for a limited time, to get tickets visit here.
