2017 – Armando Ianucci
Viewed April 30, 2020
Where blind ambition meets the reign of terror
The Death of Stalin is a clever masterclass in political satire. Coming from Armando Ianucci, I am not surprised at how much I delighted in the terse, tense, and calculated yet hysterical exchanges between the characters. I know that every mannerism of the Soviets in the film seems exaggerated, but after 30 years of an oppressive regime, their belief in the ineffability of Stalin can’t seem too unreasonable.
The two characters that matter most here are Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) and Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale): they spar, then connive with each other; they take turns acting for the good of the party and then scrabble to protect their own interests, often within the same breath. Watching the film is like viewing a game of witty musical chairs, except that when the chairs are taken away, real consequences befall the hapless Russian commoners, and when the last person wins the throne, the loser will most surely be dead. The Death of Stalin has a stone-cold black heart but it illustrates mankind’s most primal need for power and what people will do to get it.