Four Snouts Up for The Death of Stalin in theaters now

(:)(:)(:)(:) out of a possible 5 for The Death of Stalin directed and written by Armando Iannucci.  

I thought this film was marvelous and would love to see it again.   However, this deep brutal satire of the period immediately before and after the death of the brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin wasn't a movie we could take my mom to--maybe your mom, but not mine.  

Best known in North America for his creation of the hilarious HBO show Veep and known in the UK for its predecessor show, In the Loop and its spin-off movie In the Thick of It, Inannucci is a Scottish born director and creator.

If you've ever watched any of his previous work, you would be prepared for foul-mouthed politicians threatening their staff with imaginative sexual acts and behaving in the most narcissistic possible ways.  One challenge with making this movie had to have been that somehow importing that sensibility into a cruel dictatorship.   It's one thing to mock the petty concerns of a cabinet secretary or Vice President but how could you make light of the Stalin team and the actual tragedies of people living with a constant threat of murder or death camps?

Real critics agree that the star of the feature is British stage favorite Simon Russell Beale playing Stalin's righthand torturer, rapist and murderer Lavrenti Beria.  While some actors who are fabulous on stage don't transition well to the silver screen, Beale is marvelously understated in this role.  He manages to be equal parts sinister, despicable, in control, yet somehow charming.  

Since the key Stalin inner circle are all real historical figures and the arch of the plot is accurate there's a way in which it at times feels more like historical drama than black comedy.  Yet, there are major scenes that are pure farce like the men on Stalin's central committee struggling to carry his unconscious body without getting his pee on their clothes--hilarious!  

In the end, its more the Steve Buscemi (fabulous as Nikita Khrushchev) than the Julia Louis-Dreyfus fans who should make their way to see The Death of Stalin.  Most of us know that he ends up on top, so its no spoiler alert to watch him lead the Keystone Kommie Kops (look it up, millennials) to his ascendance.  If anything, this is one of Buscemi's gentler roles.