The Farce that are Power Plays

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2018)

Well, the circumstances surrounding Stalin's death were quite amusing, so it is not surprising that somebody decided to come along and make a movie about it, and an incredibly funny one at that. Well, when one comes to think about it, anything to do with politics and the people in power could easily be turned into a comedy. Sure, there is an element of respect that such people expect of their subjects, and those elsewhere, but in reality turning our political leaders into a collection of clowns has become a past time here in Australia, and when one starts to peal away the façade that are our rulers, it is very easy to turn them into a joke.
This is what has been done here, and when you consider that near the end of his life, Stalin had all of the good doctors either killed or sent to the gulags, and threatened anybody who disturbed his sleep with death, so that when he had a stroke nobody dared enter his room, just in case they get marched off to either Siberia, or the firing squad, it is very easy to make this farce the subject of a comedy.
The film begins with another of Stalin's famous prescriptions, and then contacting a radio station to ask for a recording of that night's performance, and since it wasn't recorded, the producer then rushes about to get it played again, going as far as dragging a conductor out of bed to conduct the performance in his pyjamas because the previous conductor slipped, fell, and hit his head on a metal bucket. Oh, and also dragging people in off the street to fill the house so the acoustics are right. Mind you, there is never pleasing a guy like Stalin, but fortunately for the producer, this was basically the last night of his life, so I guess he managed to dodge a bullet there.
The movie is actually about the power struggles that went on after Stalin's death, and the power plays between the members of the central committee. In one sense this could easily be turned into a political thriller, and in part it is, but make everything just that little bit eccentric and you have the makings of a rather entertaining, and incredibly amusing film. Then again, as I mentioned, such power plays can be very funny in themselves, and sometimes dealing with some very horrific historical events, the best way to portray them is by making us laugh at them. As one law lecturer once said, there are two ways to deal with disturbing events - either take it deadly seriously and go mad, or treat it as one big black joke.
Not surprisingly, this film didn't go down all that well in some sectors, and this does raise some quite interesting questions about how history is viewed. Sure, I can appreciate people becoming insulted when revered figures are turned into a joke - look at the flack that Life of Brian received. Yet, sometimes, to really appreciate such films, one needs to put aside the offence, and start to look at what the movie is really trying to say. In this particular film, it is not just Russia that is being mocked, but the power plays that go on behind the scenes of any political change where the leader of the party (or country) is suddenly incapacitated.
One really interesting thing that was done was that the characters didn't have Russian accents. That wouldn't necessarily have been a problem, but they went one step further and had the actors play up their own accents. I notice that in a lot of films the actors are able to speak without their accent, which is probably needed when some accents can result in the actor not being understood. However here we have a whole mix of accents, both American and English, and it really added quite a lot of shine to the film.
Yes, this film is pretty confronting in parts, but the confronting parts quickly pass us by to have us once again rolling around the floor in laughter at the ridiculousness of the characters. Once again, this isn't just Russia, but rather it pretty much happens everywhere - politicians can be some of the most idiotic people at times, and quite often we are left shaking our head wondering how these pole turtles ever managed to go to where they are - just look at some of the current leaders and I'm sure you will understand (and maybe we should make a farcical movie about them as well, though once again I'm sure that won't go down all that well either).