Movie #6 of 100: The Death of Stalin

Movie #6 of 100: “The Death of Stalin”

Overall Thoughts:

I went into the movie expecting a dark, twisted comedy, and that’s pretty much what I got. The film, about the aftermath of the death of Soviet despot Joseph Stalin, has a ton of laugh-inducing moments, but behind the frivolity lies a very serious message: the carnage in Stalin’s Soviet Union was random, quickly meted out, and often exceedingly cruel.

Fortunes change on a whim in the film for characters of all stripes, and often times while the camera is panning around there is something terrible happening to somebody. Whether it’s a character being arrested, beaten, or killed, as the main action is going on in several scenes there are other characters being tortured and killed, and while it’s funny at first, soon you realize that behind the comedy there is that inescapable truth that life in Soviet Russia was probably just that random and deadly.

Aside from the big messages that the film is there to deliver are some stellar performances, mixing the horror of the occasion with the hilarious comedy of the absurd. I’ll delve into some specific scenes later, but Steve Buscemi’s Nikita Khrushchev constantly being flummoxed by Russell Beale’s Lavrenti Beria, and the dim-witted actions of Jeffrey Tambor’s dopey “God I hope I look cool doing this” Georgy Malenkov, make for some truly excellent moments.

Favorite Performance:

Beale’s equally vicious and cunning turn as Beria was a big highlight of the movie for me, and it was amazing watching him so convincingly remain one step ahead of Khrushchev throughout the film.

An underrated part of the cast was Olga Kurylenko, who portrayed musical performer Maria Veniaminovna Yudina. Her character was one of the few in the film that constantly acted against Stalin, potentially incurring his wrath with her actions throughout the movie, and her reaction to news that Stalin had died was pitch-perfect: “he looks so small.”

Favorite Scene:

The entire scene around the death of Stalin was chock full of absolutely dazzling moments, including the men moving Stalin’s body into his bedroom, with the group struggling to move him without dropping him.

As word of Stalin’s death spreads, another fantastic scene takes place in which numerous people are arrested and shot, including a group of individuals being executed by firing squad in a gulag. Before his death, one of the men yells “LONG LIVE STALIN” before being told that the leader had died, and before he can finish saluting the new Soviet leader, he too is executed.

The scene is a perfect encapsulation of the random brutality in the film, and of the dark comedic overtones that make it all so entertaining.

Stars: 3.5 out of 5