Hmm. What does Comrade Stalin mean by this? Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), Krushchev (Steve Buscemi) and Beria (Simon Russell Beale) wonder whether to call a doctor, if any are still unpurged...
Posted on 04/13/2019 4:38:59 PM PDT by Twotone
I was asked a while back (I think on a Clubland Q&A) if I'd seen The Death of Stalin. And I replied that I'd caught it on a transatlantic flight, mainly because I couldn't face another superhero caper or witless "comedy" or animated feature of anthropomorphized cartoon animals virtue-signaling. It turned out to be by Armando Iannucci, an old comrade from the turn-of-the-century Daily Telegraph op-ed page and before that the producer of various BBC Light Ent shows I was a fitful participant on. Armando went on to create "The Thick of It", a sort of foul-mouthed "Yes, Minister!" eviscerating Blairite Britain as only a disillusioned Blairite could, which formula he eventually replicated in America as "Veep". I, on the other hand, went on to CRTV, so one defers with great respect to his judgment over mine - and to his wit: I'm not a great "Veep" watcher, but I gather that since his departure it appears to have degenerated into one of those shows in which Hollywood anatomizes the awfulness of Washington only to flatter and glamorize it.
Anyway, ever since that first mention of my in-flight viewing, I keep getting asked by listeners and readers what I actually made of The Death of Stalin, so I thought I'd have my tuppence-ha'porth. Iannucci directed and co-wrote, with Ian Martin, Peter Fellows and David Schneider, and the film appears to have come and gone leaving nary a trace - it opened in 2017, but I confess I'd never heard of it until that 2018 flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
I really enjoyed it. I’ve watched it three times probably. The jokes- while decidedly of the black humor variety - come so fast and furious you miss half of them in a single viewing. At least Beria gets it in the end.
Hmm. What does Comrade Stalin mean by this? Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), Krushchev (Steve Buscemi) and Beria (Simon Russell Beale) wonder whether to call a doctor, if any are still unpurged...
Very Funny movie. Mostly because it is probably true.
I’ve never seen it. Guess I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. :-)
Probably the only movie I’ve seen at a first run picture show in 10 or 15 years.
Great comedy.
“Dark humor is like food. Not everyone gets it......” J. Stalin
Thank God the Soviet Union is gone. Russia is still a mess... maybe it always will be. But the Evil Empire is gone.
And did you get the t-shirt...?
A movie that is hysterical and scary. 4 stars.
It may be on either SHowtime or Starz on demand, Excellent movie!
I am going to get one. It will probably be similar to wearing a red MAGA hat in public, at least here in California.
Great movie!
I found it very entertaining.
“And so the concerto is played again that night, and a recording is made, and at the end of it the pianist, Maria Yudina, slips a note into the sleeve of the disc.”
The true story is that Stalin sent her a packet of money, as was the custom then, in appreciation of her performance. She wrote back, that she had given they money to her church to pray for him because of his great crimes against the country.
She should have been executed at once; but Stalin spared her — possibly, because she was a “true” woman, not a deceiver
like all the toadies around him. (He likely spared Pasternak for the same reason.)
Her recording was one of the records put on the phonograph as he was dying in a coma.
In CA they will not ‘get it.’ They’ll just see you as a fellow leftist. ;-)
Just a wonderful movie - it’s hard enough to believe somebody would make a movie that mocks the Commies, but then if they’d told me it would star the likes of Steve Buscemi and Michael Palin, I’d be even more skeptical. But there it is, and it’s funny as all get out - in a black humor fashion, as others have pointed out.
The devil will not be made fun of, which makes this treatment of the old Soviet Union all that more satisfying. And the dialog, along with the subtle little sight gags here and there, is really first rate. It’s worth watching just for it’s portrayal of Marshall Zhukov, especially as it establishes the contrast between a character with real masculinity compared to all the butt-kissers and slimeballs in the central committee
“Mostly because it is probably true.”
I think we’d be surprised how much of it is factual (or at least close to factual, with a cynical spin, of course). After I saw it for the 3rd or 4th time, I started reading up on Stalin, and some of the most bizarre stuff started to make sense.
For example, there’s the scene where they open Stalin’s skull once he’s kicked off. Well it turns out that Stalin had ordered the collection of the brains of prominent Russkies after their death so they could be studied. Whether it actually happened with Stalin himself or not I don’t know, but it is a plausible plot detail.
Good one.
I think POSObama would cry more and be sadder over a Death of Mao movie.
The funniest English comedy since “A Fish Named Wanda” 30 years ago.
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