Pretty decent comedy or should I say drama

Rating: 6/10 (14 February 2018)

The movie is well directed and the actors do well their parts without anything extraordinary. The one major flaw is that the atmosphere is not Russian, it is more like if a tyranny would have befallen on English soil. Let me explain. Khrushchev is something of a prankster of the group, a slim agitated guy and has nothing to do with the real indeed funny but bear-like and strong willed politician. Beria is played by a fat guy while the real one was slim and intellectual. The way Molotov was portrayed reminded me of Neville Chamberlain or Antony Eden, he seems a lord with communist convictions. Malenkov the stupid is again excessive, even if suits the story well. The starting point, though clever is obviously surreal. Only the pianist sees clearly how tyrannic Stalin is and has the suicidal courage to send him a letter, even if she knows that means death, This seems exaggerated, given her young age she would have been victim of the usual brain washing strategies portraying Stalin as the father of the nation.. The authors ignore the real scope of the terror in those days URSS, even if some of Beria's conversations do give some sense of how frightening was to live in that time. But this is not a historic reconstruction and for what it is, I find it funny with all the jokes that spring out of the grim and terrifying reality.