As entertaining as it may be, _Sons of Anarchy_ has a significant flaw: regardless of who opposed the biker gang, the show consistently portrayed them as corrupt or amoral, making their adversaries seem comparatively better. This same tendency is evident in _Citizen K_, a documentary about Russian oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky – it prioritizes depicting Vladimir Putin as the villain over critically examining Khodorkovsky himself, who emerges as the default hero; when your opponent appears exceptionally villainous, anyone opposing them will seem relatively good. The film, while informative in terms of facts, lacks a deep psychological exploration and gives Khodorkovsky more leniency than seems appropriate. Directed by Alex Gibney, known for documentaries on Enron’s collapse (_Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room_), US Army torture (_Taxi to the Darkside_), the Catholic Church scandal (_Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God_), Julian Assange (_We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks_), Lance Armstrong's deception (_The Armstrong Lie_), Scientology (_Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief_), Stuxnet (_Zer0 Days_), and the Theranos scandal (_The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley_), _Citizen K_ uses Khodorkovsky’s story to illustrate the chaotic events surrounding post-Soviet Russia and Putin's rise to power, a rise facilitated by Khodorkovsky himself. Born in Moscow in 1963, Khodorkovsky’s story truly begins in 1991 with Boris Yeltsin’s first term as president of the Russian Federation. As an advocate for democracy and capitalism, he established one of Russia's first private banks, MENATEP, during Yeltsin’s early presidency. Amidst a nation transitioning to a capitalist system it didn't fully grasp, Khodorkovsky amassed wealth through currency trading, but much of his initial fortune came from acquiring privatization vouchers – free shares distributed to Russian citizens. Many Russians, unaware of their value

Source on TMDB