Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

From oil tycoon to imprisoned muse

Russia Beyond the Headlines

Directors and writers have turned their eyes to former oligarch and longtime inmate Mikhail Khordokovsky as a subject, inspiration, and more recently, colleague. During the first few moments of the movie “Khodorkovsky,” the screen remains black. Then a narrow blue band widens from the top edge of the inky darkness, as if the viewer is peering out at the clear sky from some dark chamber. The vista grows, revealing two oil pumps swinging up and down in the middle of a snowy desert in Siberia. They look like the hands of a huge clock, ticking off the inevitable minutes.

The film, which was a sleeper hit warmly received at last month’s Berlin Film Festival, got much bigger play after it was stolen from the director’s office before a small screening, causing an even greater sensation for the film.