- This topic has 3 voices and 3 replies.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
I want to recommend the movie The Death of Stalin on Netflix. I did not watch it when it came out because I thought it was some kind of comedy that made light of Stalin.
I was wrong. It is a chilling, compelling dramatization of the sheer bloodthirsty brutality of Stalin and the entire Soviet leadership at that time (and afterwards). It conveys that terror with minimal use of physical violence (although there is some). Several of the actors are known for their typically comic roles, including Michael Palin and especially Steven Buscemi who plays Nikita Kruschev, who has the lead role in the movie. Kruschev is the Soviet dictator who took power after Stalin died. But the subject matter of this movie is deadly serious.
The kowtowing to Stalin (when he was alive), the incessant and deadly sycophantry, and the constant threat of death among all the members of the Politburo and anyone with whom they came in contact is incredible. The sheer horrifying brutality of Lavrentiy Beria, the head of the murderous NKVD, the secret police of the Soviet Union, is hard to describe.
The style of the film is unusual. It may offend some Objectivists and others who are very knowledgeable of the Soviet horrors, but I found it compelling and very disturbing.
I welcome reactions from anyone else who saw this film.
/sb
-
Re: Raymond Niles’ post 101684 of 4/8/20
I saw it a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. But … I really like Monty Python too.
*sb
-
Re: Barbara Lamar’s post 129763 of 4/10/20
I like Monty Python, too, and I thought this film would be like that (which is actually why I initially didn’t want to see it).
But when I finally saw it, I didn’t take it that way. Michael Palin was very serious in the movie. Steven Buscemi *seemed* comic, but I thought his performance was deadly serious (and brilliant).
The film captured the psychological essence of what it must have been like to be in Stalin’s circle. One’s entire survival depended on one thing: pleasing and not offending the tyrant. It really captured that.
I don’t think the film can be taken as literally true. I don’t know how these people talked. I don’t think Kruschev had a fast-talking wit that the actor Steven Buscemi had. I don’t know, which is why someone who has deep knowledge of this era might be offended if they expect this film to be a true to history depiction.
But I do think the film is accurate in a psychological sense. It captures what must have been the omnipresent terror of life inside the Politburo and near it. Everyone faced the constant threat of death.
The film did a great job conveying that terror.
/sb
-
Re: Raymond Niles’ post 101684 of 4/8/20
Thank you for the recommendation. I watched this yesterday and enjoyed it very much. Its use of humor is cutting, clever, and genuinely funny. It highlights the sheer absurdity of socialism by laughing at it, even refering to it by name once (brave in this day and age).
Its moral is that even men with some good in them are forced by socialism to either become fully evil or die.
/sb
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.