The Death of Stalin

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

[mr_rating_result]

Want a good laugh? How about Stalinism — that’s worth a few yucks, right?

At least, that’s the premise of “The Death of Stalin,” a political satire directed by Armando Iannucci.

As you known, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a revolutionary and political despot who ruled the Soviet Union from the ’20 until his death on March 5, 1953. As the country’s de facto dictator, he eradicated hundreds of thousands of “enemies of the state” during the Great Purge. Official records show that 800,000 were shot in the Soviet Union between 1930 and 1952, and an even larger number died in labor camps.

Are you in a laughing mood yet?

Based on the French graphic novel “La mort de Staline,” the film depicts the power struggles that following the death of Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev emerged on top, you might recall.

Scottish director Armando Iannucci sees his film as a Trump-era satire. “Humorless politicians are the most dangerous,” he says.

“I was thinking of a fictional movie about a contemporary dictator, fantasizing about what might happen next in today’s world. But then this French company … said, ‘We want to make this film, and we think it’d be right for you — are you interested?’ I read the book and I instantly thought, Well, this is it! Why bother with fiction when this true story is bizarre and funny and scary at the same time?”

“The Death of Stalin” is sharing its barbs at Tropic Cinema.

The film stars Adrian McLoughlin as Joseph Stalin; Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev; Simon Russell Beale as Lavrentiy Beria; Paddy Considine as Comrade Andreyev; Jeffrey Tambor as Georgy Malenkov; and Monty Python alum Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov.

“Before I made ‘The Death of Stalin,’ I went back and I viewed Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’ — a satire of Hitler made in 1941, with hilarious scenes but also scenes about the Jewish ghetto.”

He adds, “Russian humor involves the little guy getting caught up in the machinery of the province or the inspector — which slightly chimes with British comedy. It’s all about the little person in the big apparatus.”

Iannucci shot the film pre-Trump, but when he started showing it to people, they seemed to think it was a commentary on contemporary events.

He’s glad he decided to go with a fact-based film. “I’d find it very difficult to do fiction set in the world of government while what’s happening in reality is far more absurd.”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com