Surprising dark comedy that manages to show evil with humour, without excusing it

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2020)

I wasn't sure what to expect, but this movie was recommended to me. As a descendant of someone who suffered under Soviet communism (farm collectivised, friends dragged off, etc), and sensitive to how revisionist history sometimes dulls the edges of evil, I was very curious as to how this crazy, fearful time would be presented. How do you make the terror that Solzhenitsyn expressed so passionately, funny?
The performances are top notch - from Beria to Zhukov, the cast were amazing; Michael Palin was good as Molotov (as he chose to play him), although the way he characterized him I disagree with. The humour comes in seeing these brutal and merciless men terrorized by their own fear of what could happen and knowledge that they could be next on the list, (in fact, Molotov's wife was in prison as a traitor). Seeing these men nervous, fawning, scheming and obsessing over things was funny, because the script was clever and managed to preserve the absurdity and callousness of the Soviet regime whilst showing the duplicity, machinations and plotting against each other. The egos were preserved, the desire to criticise and use anything as a way to climb up way was shown, and even though you knew they were real people, it was hard to feel sorry for any of them, seeing and knowing what they did.
It is a rare movie, in that it took a terrible time, made a dark comedy, yet didn't sugar coat things but pulled you in. The dialogue, quips and chemistry between all the stars were terrific, and I actually laughed loudly at Jason Issacs' portrayal of Zhukov; it was brilliant, and shows what a talented actor he is (Lucius Malfoy as a Soviet general? IT WORKS.) Buschemi had a lot of depth playing Khrushchev, another great performance by him. See it - I guarantee it won't be what you expect but it will be worth your time! A new favourite.