Sometimes funny, sometimes trivializes tragedy

Rating: 5/10 (12 May 2018)

After the eponymous event takes place in 1953, the inner circle of the notorious Soviet dictator moves from denial and turmoil to backstabbing and power-grabbing.
The film is intended to be a satirical comedy. In this way, it works well much of the time. Stalin's upper tier seems to have been filled with yes-men whose apparent cowardice hides devious ambition beneath. Their pitiful lack of character make them easy fodder for mockery and there are, indeed, some genuine laughs.
The trouble is in how the film handles the atrocious government-enforced murders, tortures, and incarcerations of numerous innocent citizens during the disreputable Stalin era. At best, the purges are trivialized. At worst, they are used as comic fodder. ("Well, you purged more people than I did." "Did not.")
This element of bad taste separates me from the many who have praised "The Death of Stalin" as much as it did for "Life is Beautiful" (1997 - Italy), a comedy that used the Holocaust as a backdrop.
"The Death of Stalin" is a Belgian-French-UK co-production in the English language. The topic of the Stalin purges is rarely depicted in film in a rightfully serious way. The best possible outcome would be if Russia made a truthful and genuine film about this subject. However, this is highly unlikely: "The Death of Stalin" is currently banned in Russia.