The Death of Stalin 2017

     This film is based on a French graphic novel.  The setting is early 1953 in Moscow.  Joseph Stalin was ever watchful and there was a heavy cloak of state paranoia throughout Russia.  Any person in living Russia could be dragged out of their beds in the night and driven away from their homes to be executed!!  Unexpectedly, Stalin suffers a brain hemorrhage and he dies.  After the discovery of his body, panic spreads like a virus throughout the government.  Power is the name of the game and how will this new power be distributed?  There is the panic among winners and losers alike!!

     I think an interest and knowledge of the game players in Russia at this time is needed to fully understand the power struggles?  I don’t have this information in my head and I have no desire to obtain it!!  I was at a disadvantage determining the players, their motives and their positions?  I also didn’t find this to be funny??  I didn’t find it to be interesting??  My lingering questions about this film are not important enough to gain the required information!!  1* (I hated this movie)   

 

107 min, History directed by Armando Iannucci with Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jeffrey Tambor, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Brooke, Paddy Considine, Justin Edwards, Adrian McLoughlin, Simon Russell Beale, Michael Palin, Paul Ready, Yulya Muhrygina, Jeremy Limb.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, 96% critic 77% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Amazon 3.7* out of 5* with 93 reviews, Metacritic 88 out of 100 with 42 critics 7.4 out of 10 with 127 reviews, Rollingstone 3 ½* out of 4*, New York Times 4.6* out of 5* with 656 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Kyiv, Ukraine; Moscow, Russia; London, England, UK.  There was widespread visual censorship in the USSR.  The Soviet government erased some figures from Soviet history by altering their images or deleting them from pictures.  This film was banned in Russia on January 23, 2018, two days before the release.  A claim was made that the release in advance of the 75^th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad would be an affront to Russia’s WWII veterans.  After hearing Stalin collapse on the floor, the two guards debated about entering without permission.  There was a penalty of death for disobeying an order by Stalin.  They stayed at their post until given the notice to leave.