If you’ve been following American politics over the past five years, you’ve probably heard of Lev Parnas. If you’re like me though, your knowledge of him and all that he did to influence the 2020 election may be piecemeal. That’s where the new documentary film by director Billy Corben (COCAINE COWBOYS) and executive producer Rachel Maddow (MSNBC host) can help. The cutely titled FROM RUSSIA WITH LEV gives audiences a good understanding of the man and his actions in his own words.

For the unfamiliar, Lev Parnas is a Ukrainian-born American who is a hustler. From the time he was a pre-teen, he was out on the streets of Brooklyn, NY running errands for various figures in the Russian mafia who run the criminal activities in Brighton Beach. As an adult, he was involved in a number of shady schemes in Florida and California but he always managed to stay out of jail. In 2019, his connections introduced him to the MAGA movement and specifically to its leader, the one who I’ll attempt not to name here. (Let’s see how that goes.) Realizing that he had connections to various Putin allies both in Russia and Ukraine, Lev and his business associate, Igor Fruman, were hired by none other than Rudy Giuliani to dig up dirt on Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who at the time was serving on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma. Trump (darn, I failed already!) did not want to face Biden in the upcoming election and he was hoping that by tarnishing Biden’s reputation, the man would drop out of the Democratic primary race, leaving Bernie Sanders as the party’s frontrunner. Try as they could, Parnas and Fruman were unable to find anything untoward on the Bidens so they made stuff up. When the then US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, tried to thwart their efforts, they told Trump to fire her, which he did.

As we now know, Biden went on to win both the primary and the general election but Parnas’ story didn’t end there. He was eventually charged with and found guilty of offences related to campaign finances, wire fraud and making false statements, for which he was sentenced to 20 months in jail. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s life was upended and he is currently awaiting sentencing for a federal firearms violation and tax evasion. While Giuliani is facing a raft of financial problems stemming from his defamation of two Georgia poll workers, he has not been charged at all related to his involvement with Parnas. As for the Teflon Don, well, we know that nothing sticks to him.

In FROM RUSSIA WITH LEV, Parnas goes through the whole chronology of his involvement in this scheme, complete with photographic and audio evidence. The man recorded everything! I’m truly amazed that he hasn’t been bumped off but I guess it’s too late now that all the evidence is out in the open. While Giuliani is still walking the streets today and continuing to spout lies about the Burisma affair, I fully expect that the Department of Justice will charge him with new offences once the 2024 election is over.

What’s most interesting about the movie is Parnas’ willingness to bare his soul for the camera. Dare I say, he’s almost a sympathetic character, someone who decided to fly too close to the sun and is now facing the consequences of that action. Corben and Maddow lucked out big time when Parnas told them at the end of shooting that he wanted to apologize to Hunter Biden in person and on camera. As Maddow has said in interviews, they didn’t think Biden would agree to it but Parnas, ever the hustler, made it happen and that scene is captured in the movie. Watching it, one cannot help but be moved by Biden’s grace. His father taught him well.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LEV is currently only available on NBC.com. I suspect it will move to Peacock very shortly and then to other streaming platforms. If you have a chance, definitely check it out as it’s fascinating.

Thanks for reading but don’t be a lurker! If you liked what you just read, here are some suggestions:

Sign up to receive my movie reviews in your inbox automatically
Share this review on your Facebook page
Leave me a message telling me what you thought of my review or the film
Bookmark the site and visit often
Like my Howard For Film Facebook page
Watch my reviews on my YouTube page
Check out my Howard For Film magazine on Flipboard
Tell your friends about the site