Review of The Death of Stalin (2017) by K Nife C — 09 Mar 2018

That British humor is dry, isn't it? Add in the weight of Soviet Russia's legacy of domestic oppression, and you've got yourself some of the blackest humor that side of the Atlantic. Upon first viewing, I can easily say that the The Death of Stalin is one of the most impressive political satires I've seen since Four Lions. It's only fitting that it would be in line with it, considering that Four Lion's writer Chris Morris worked several times back in the 90's with director Armando Iannucci on Up Yer News and The Day Today. As is expected of that school of humor, The Death of Stalin delivers some levity under such grave subject matter as one of the most brutal political regimes of the 20th century.

Based on a series of French comic books, the story recounts the power vacuum subsequent to Secretary General Joseph Stalin's death while taking liberties with the true events to skewer the people who squabbled over replacing him. Aside from the beautifully constructed period design, the actors don't bother to feign silly Russian accents à la Red Sparrow, compounding the absurdly acerbic proceedings with a dose of unreality. Steve Buscemi's Brooklyn accent fits right into his role as Nikita Khrushchev. His natural jittering charisma no doubt reflecting that of his real life counterpart (at least relative to the west's decidedly low opinion of the Russian bureaucracy at the time) while remaining firm-footed in the world of charicature. I had to do a double take, but Michael Palin is a treat to behold on screen after all of these years. As for Jeffrey Tambor, we can't talk about his prolific acting career or how good his performance is as the push-over fill-in for Stalin, Georgy Malenkov, because he's a sex pervert, so forget I even mentioned it.

Aside from the stellar cast, the writing is top-notch and is disturbingly indicative of the tenants of a ruling elite when it isn't laugh-out-loud funny. As it was in production before the Trump administration, it would be easy to confuse it for an outright attack on this return to charismatic authoritarianism, but The Death of Stalin is complementary to our current political situation in the same way that Dr. Strangelove... was to rising Cold war tensions because they are both alarmingly pertinent to their times and settings while providing a general critique on the abuse of power all throughout history. I must warn you though, the juxtaposition of senseless violence with slapstick humor and bureaucratic chicanery is tonal whiplash, and it caught me off-guard a few times. However, it's so well executed it might have even brought a smile to the horrible despot himself.