About Stalin or Beria

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2020)

The movie opens with Stalin and the Politburo (Malinovsky, Molotov, Khrushchev, etc. ) at Stalin's green Dacha. They are all riotously drunk. While in this drunken state, Stalin is writing out a list of people to be executed by Beria. This scenario is a well documented history, no fiction here.
The movie ends with the Politburo now planning to execute Beria before he executes them. Marshal Zhukov (played with comedic/cartoonish overreach) has a role in securing and arresting Beria. In the movie, within a day, Beria is arrested and shot. The Historical truth is that Beria was in fact arrested in June, tried, convicted for treason and executed in December of 1953. Never get your history from Hollywood or Pinehurst Studios.
It's not surprising that Russia would not like this movie. The Great Patriotic War, as the Russians still call World War II, (led by Marshall Zhukov) saw the loss of many millions of Russians, not only military but civilian; indeed, Russia lost more than the total all those lost by the Allied Powers including those lost in Germany (both Civilians and Military). So the Great Patriotic War does not lend itself to trivialization or comedy or satire in Russia.
Stalin dies and the Politburo falls all over itself with fawning, sycophancy, and competition. And the viewer thinks, this is comedic shtick, right!? No, Stalin's last hours are well documented in the history, and this is pretty much how members of the Politburo responded. While Beria is accurately portrayed as a ruthless murderer, it must be remembered that Khrushchev himself was not so shabby in the murder department either. You then have these two murderers (Beria & Khrushchev) each vying for power against what amounts to the bland political apparatchik (Malenkov, Malinovsky, etc.).
Despite the caveat of time between Beria's arrest in June 1953 and execution after trial in December 1953, the movie accurately reflects what the history has documented. The actors give an interpretation of the characters they channel, but the interpretation is fairly accurate. Simon Montefiore describes these events depicted in the film in his book on Stalin.