Stalin (1992)

Previously, I had seen this film in its near entirety (missed the end), though in a dubbed copy, in February 11, 2001.

 Stalin is a young revolutionary. After Lenin's death, he takes his place. He is paranoid and orders the execution of most of his former revolutionary pals. His wife is disappointed in him and turns to hating him. Then comes World War II. Stalin kills some more people, then gets old and dies.

This "docudrama" avoids the usual boredom associated with this kind of production by having an archvillain as protagonist. Nothing especially interesting happens in it, but we somehow are drawn by the parade of atrocities. Much has been said about the location shooting in the Kremlin and elsewhere in Russia, but to be frank the production values are the usual in TV productions, that is, not very impressive. Historical events are just glossed over and shown as montages of old documentaries and fictional productions. Some liberties were taken in regard with real events. Yakov's youth love was in reality the daughter of an Orthodox priest, but in the film she was Jewish. Maybe the screenwriter -- who is Jewish, like the producer and the director -- wished to stress Stalin's anti-semitism, but that is forcing the hand a little, even though the producer has said "he fought his own prejudices to present a balanced portrait of the red dictator". Anti-semitism would play a bigger role in the end of the Stalinist era, with the so-called Doctors' Plot affair, about which the film says nothing. Now for other curious details. At a certain point in the movie, Nadezhda's mother warns her daughter about Stalin: "I know Georgian men. But you?" That is curious, because the historical character was also of partial Georgian ancestry, which, if she really said that, would make her a self-loather of sorts. By the way, the real Nadezhda was not exactly a beauty (to be polite), in stark contrast with the actress they chose to play her. In addition to that, she is portrayed as a very politically concerned person who argued with Stalin about his policies and killed herself presumably because of them. This is obviously one of the usual fictional liberties they take about women who must appear independent and righteous. As Wikipedia itself admits, there is hardly any evidence for that; it is much more likely she killed herself because Stalin had lovers, or mistreated her somehow. About the main actor's make-up, I prefer not to say anything. In fact, I regret bringing that to my memory.

Rating: 45 (down from 57)