Year: 2018
Director: Armando Ianucci
Country: UK
Language: English
When I make my "Ten Favourite Films of 2018" list at the end of the year, Death of Stalin will be close to the top, if not #1. It's a riot! A funny picture that demonstrates how pure fear can lead to the absurd. An interesting fact, perhaps not mentioned in this picture, is that Joseph Stalin's death could have been avoided had his guards reached him in time. Unfortunately, Stalin gave them orders to not interrupt his sleep under ANY circumstance under penalty of death. So even though he was "asleep" for an unusually long amount of time, people were terrified to check up on him.
In early-1953 Moscow the ever-watchful Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, collapses unexpectedly of a brain haemorrhage. Inevitably, when his body is discovered in the following morning, a frenetic surge of raw panic spreads like a virus in the senior members of the Council of Ministers, as they scramble to maintain order, weed out the competition, and, ultimately, take power.
If one thought there were limits to comedy; that certain subjects, like one of history's most genocidal regime, could not be made fun of, then they were sorrowfully mistaken. Featuring Monty Python-esque humor (Python's own Michael Palin plays Vyacheslav Molotov) Death of Stalin transforms the tragic into fictionalized (VERY loosely based on the truth) political satire. Its humor so seering, that many former USSR countries have opted to ban this film from being shown in their countries.
Based on graphic novels by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, director Armando Ianucci lampoons the anxieties and ridiculous scheming of men who have lived an iron fist; one can't help but picture if scenes similar are happening at the White House at this very moment. The production design by Cristina Casali and period-accurate costumes by Suzie Harman all help to create a very believable Soviet Russia.
The Death of Stalin does a tremendous job at creating humour out of what otherwise would be a tragic footnote in human history. Its bold, imaginative and unmistakably British. Very few films in 2018 will match this.
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