the collapse of the soviet union led to a volatile but highly advantageous environment for young
russian businessmen eager to build the fledgling market economy by any means necessary. striking
extraordinary deals with the government to acquire newly privatized industries, a small group of men
became phenomenally rich almost overnight. the most successful of these oligarchs was mikhail
khodorkovsky, who quickly became the wealthiest man in russia. but khodorkovsky was invested not
only in business, but also in true social reform and a new ideal of an open society, an attitude
that ran afoul of the absolute rule of vladimir putin. within months of announcing a deal which
would have opened the formerly state-controlled russian oil industry to investment by western
corporations, khodorkovsky and his business partners were arrested and jailed for fraud and tax
evasion. tracing khodorkovsky's dramatic, ambiguous rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands
of putin's kgb-infested ... written by los angeles film festival
russian businessmen eager to build the fledgling market economy by any means necessary. striking
extraordinary deals with the government to acquire newly privatized industries, a small group of men
became phenomenally rich almost overnight. the most successful of these oligarchs was mikhail
khodorkovsky, who quickly became the wealthiest man in russia. but khodorkovsky was invested not
only in business, but also in true social reform and a new ideal of an open society, an attitude
that ran afoul of the absolute rule of vladimir putin. within months of announcing a deal which
would have opened the formerly state-controlled russian oil industry to investment by western
corporations, khodorkovsky and his business partners were arrested and jailed for fraud and tax
evasion. tracing khodorkovsky's dramatic, ambiguous rise to power and subsequent fall at the hands
of putin's kgb-infested ... written by los angeles film festival
