The Death of Stalin, if you’ve not seen it yet, then you should. You won’t be surprised to hear, it follows the events surrounding the death of one of the greatest monsters in human history. Joseph Stalin’s rule in the Soviet Union was a time of constant, gnawing paranoia. The creeping fear that one wrong word to the wrong person would lead to the knock on the door in the middle of the night followed by oblivion, either swiftly in the Lubyanka cellars, or lingering in the Gulag. Leading figures in the Soviet system could fall overnight and simply disappear, physically, and from memory, ordinary folk died by the tens of millions.
You might not expect such a film to be fun, but fun it certainly is. The Death of Stalin is one of the best and blackest comedies I’ve ever seen. There are some great laugh out loud moments and comedy runs through the whole piece. The fact that it is a comedy does not at all diminish the seriousness of the subject, rather, the comedy accentuates the sinister aspects The director, Armando Iannuci, wonderfully and powerfully captures the darkness and paranoia of the time. The film has genuinely chilling moments lurking among the laughs, like grenades in an apple barrel.
The film boasts a fine collection of UK and US comic talent. To help emphasise the multifaceted nature of the Soviet Union the actors largely keep their own accents, no awkward attempts at Bond villain style Slavic vowel sounds to mar the sharp, excellent script. The central figures, Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev and Simon Russell Beale as Levrenty Beria are two strong pillars that prop the whole film up. Physically Buscemi might not seem an obvious choice for the stout, bull-like Khrushchev, but he is just the man to convey his court jester survival skills. Beale pulls off the prodigious feat of playing the truly vile and evil Beria as a real human, not a caricatured beast. The rest of the cast are more than worth their salt, but Rupert Friend, as Stalin’s vodka-soaked son Vasiliy, deserves special mention. His performance is glorious, bringing comic chaos whenever he appears.
It all looks beautiful. Location filming in the Ukraine lends authenticity and the sets for the scenes around Stalin’s funeral really capture the blood tinted opulence of Soviet state theatre. The rather drab look of the members of the Presidium themselves and the ugly, tired interiors of Khrushchev’s and Molotov’s apartments contrast with this tissue of theatrical lushness. These are men who have the best the Soviet Union can produce, and it doesn’t look worth having.
The internal conflicts and back room back stabbing that follow the big man’s death are well paced and very well played. Anyone who’s ever sat on a committee will recognise the dynamics. Like Conspiracy, Kenneth Branagh’s film about the Wannsee Conference, it takes us into a world of power struggles among ruthless totalitarians, in Conspiracy it’s Nazis, in Death of Stalin it’s Commies. Both films pull off the trick of getting you to think of the least bad people on screen as “the good guys”, it takes an effort of will to remember they’re all just different levels of very, very bad guys indeed.
Historically the film is pretty good. It’s far from 100% accurate, but as the director points out it’s a film, not a documentary. Where it deviates from the record it’s for good, cinematic reasons and without skewing the history. The History Buffs video is worth watching if you want to contrast the movie with the history; but do see the movie first.
All in all, I can’t recommend Death of Stalin too highly. I first saw it at the cinema, and I’ve watched it five times since. Perhaps the portrayal of a world where uttering the wrong opinions can land you in deep trouble resonates with me more and more. What can we talk about, and in what terms? Is Polnikov still alive? Did he ever even exist? Is your sexuality a hard-wired trait dictated by your DNA, but your gender a malleable social construct? Or is it the other way around? The Death of Stalin, it’s an entertaining and timely reminder of the dangers of totalitarianism. I enjoy it, I hope you will too.
Oh well, I’d better get going now, it’s very late and someone’s knocking at my door…
4 replies on “A comedy of terrors”
Just watched this (it took Netflix awhile to get the DVD to me). It is as you describe, a real romp! Also, it is the only film I can recall that has treated the Soviet Communist as hilarious bumbling idiots. That is a breath of fresh air. From my readings, they interacted with each other just this way.
Caught this one on a plane trip. Beautiful balance of black comedy and political menace that keeps you amused and interested without being “funny” like every other stupid modern comedy.
Excellent review–I’d been vaguely thinking that the movie looked potentially interesting, good to know it’s actually worth watching. Sounds like the kind of thing my Dad might enjoy.
Thank you Lydia, I hope you enjoy it.