 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Stalin
|
 |
|
This
made-for-television biopic is a real oddity. Director Ivan Passer has made some
fine films in his day (like Cutter's Way, 1981), but the epic sweep of this production, filmed in Russian locations, and
its inescapably simplistic point of view crush any subtlety or nuance.
Stalin,
played rather gamely by Robert Duvall, is of course presented as a hideous
monster – complete with evil glances, perverse sexuality and domestic tyranny.
By
making virtually every other character a decent, innocent victim of history,
the film avoids properly looking into the ideology of Stalinism as a social
condition.
As
well, by concentrating almost solely on the wicked leader's Goodfellas-style round of betrayals and
assassinations, it casts no more than a sidelong glance at the devastations
wrought throughout the ex-Soviet Union during the period of Stalin's rule.
Still,
for anyone interested in the way political history gets represented on screen, Stalin is obligatory viewing.
© Adrian Martin June 1993 |
