An unintentionally damning indictment of liberal social politics

Rating: 4/10 (21 February 2018)

"The Death of Stalin" is strangely, and doubtless unintentionally, evocative of our current political climate, in which seemingly innocuous and well-intended comments or efforts at humor are twisted and misconstrued as damning evidence of lack of conformity to political correctitude. Everybody is circumspect about every word they utter. Highly respected individuals who have worked tirelessly their entire careers are disgraced by unfounded allegations of impropriety. Liberal ideals are corrupted to advance the goals of disparate political factions. Everybody is terrified that any misstatement will be recorded and turned against them. People spend more time apologizing and clarifying than actually communicating fresh ideas. People embrace political dogma out of fear, not conviction. Close allies can turn into vicious opponents at the slightest scent of weakness or political unorthodoxy.
TDoS is a black comedy. The humor is subtle, but incisive. Performances are good. Production values are adequate, although the film suffers from over-reliance on kinetosis-inducing jiggly-cam shots and the British accents of Russian characters is distracting.