Surprisingly good dark satire but close to historical naritive

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2020)

Bottom Line Up Front: This dark satire takes some liberties with history but does stay rather close to the facts. Depicts the hysteria and the overwhelming fear instilled by Stalin and Beria in the late 40s and early 50s up to Stalin's death. If you like docu-dramas you will like this one. If not, don't bother.
No spoilers if you know your history.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film thinking it was going to show a lot of comedy with an intent of making light of the tumultuous time following Stalin's death. Instead, this film in many ways accurately depicted what it, quite possibly, like to be in the inner circle of Central Committee members at the time. It also showed the difference between Beria, who was a sadistic and a very sick individual, and who would become the next leader of the USSR, Khrushchev.
What made this film compelling was the depiction of the fear and the sense of urgency to ensure control of an extremely centralized form of government. It also shows the trust between Khrushchev and Zhukov (head of the army) as they both served in WWII and played pivotal roles in the war. They understood one another and trusted each other to protect the state.
Thankfully Khrushchev became the next leader and not Beria. If Beria had become leader, I don't think the Cuban missile crisis would have turned out well for either side. While Khrushchev was ruthless it was necessary under the Soviet system to ensure Beria and the NKVD were removed permanently (was eventually merged into the MVD and KGB). This cleared the way for many of Khrushchev's reforms (not depicted in the film as Khrushchev's reforms were so "progressive" for more freedoms, he was removed by Brezhnev and reversed many of Khrushchev's reforms).