Fun with Fascist Dictators
Great comedians find humor pretty much anywhere, and so it is that this group of brilliant comedians—Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, and Armando Ianucci—uncover hilarity in the authoritarian darkness of fascism. It makes sense, really: few things bug a self-serious fascist as much as being mocked, and these masters of mockery bring it hard.
The idea of a comedy sprouting from the cutthroat power vacuum left by the death of Josef Stalin seems a bit… odd. But Armando Iannucci—the brilliant funnyman behind Alan Partridge, The Thick of It, In the Loop, and Veep—excels at finding hilarity in the heartless (and frequently foul-mouthed) people who inhabit self-devouring bureaucracies, so it’s a perfect match.
“The comedy of cruelty is rarely funnier or more brutal than when it comes from Armando Iannucci, a virtuoso of political evisceration,” said Manhola Dargis in The New York Times. “The laughs come in jolts and waves in The Death of Stalin, delivered in a brilliantly arranged mix of savage one-liners, lacerating dialogue and perfectly timed slapstick ”
Adapted from a graphic novel, the film starts with the title action, then details the aftermath, as a group of Soviet insiders jostle for the big job—Kruschev (Steve Buscemi, fabulous), who has the inside track; Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), Stalin’s vain doofus of a deputy; Beria (Simon Russell Beale, especially good), the terrifying head of the NKVD Security Forces; and Molotov (Michael Palin), the vapid foreign affairs minister.
Palin’s presence is perfect, since the movie has more than a passing similarity to something Monty Python might have attempted. It’s also worth noting that, thankfully, none of these actors put on a heavy, fake-Russian accent.
“From start to finish, director/co-writer Iannucci delivers an audacious and insightful and ridiculous and hilarious send-up.” —The Chicago Sun-Times