The Death of Stalin - So many British Russians

I've been a fan of Armando Iannucci ever since his early satirical 'Friday Night Armistice' shows making fun of political events.  He's always displayed a wry take on modern life which has showed through in his own shows and, of course 'The Thick of It.' Therefore, I watched 'The Death of Stalin' simply to continue watching his output.  Now, having seen it, I am left feeling a little disappointed, but I can't help but think that's it's my fault.

I studied post Second World War history, but only the WESTERN aspects to it, i.e. European and American.  I knew little of what was going on in the Soviet Union, only that the 'Cold War' kicked off and the Russians were always the baddies in the Bond films.  As the title suggests the story charts the last days (or even hours!) of Soviet dictator's Stalin's life and then the subsequent power struggle which ensued from all his deputies and surrounding high-ranking staff.

There's quite a large cast and, impressively, they're all played by excellent actors (mainly recognisable faces from British film and TV output, but you also have Steve Buscemi and Jeffrey Tambor in there somewhere).  Each of these plays the part of a real-life person from Stalin's inner circle.  And, just to help out those of us (like me!) who know nothing about this aspect of history, they all get their own caption reminding us who they are and what they do in Stalin's dictatorship.  However, despite these clues, they didn't go far to help me understanding who they are, what they do, or what their political motivations are.

I get the feeling that if I knew about the real events which inspired this film, I'd be able to watch it and therefore point knowingly at the screen from time to time and say 'Ah, Michael Palin is playing so-and-so.  He was responsible for this, that or the other in Stalin's regime.' However, seeing as I know nothing about anything relating to this time period, all I could say was, 'Oh, that's Michael Palin.  He was good in Monty Python.'

Then there were the accents.  Yes, I know this is possibly the most 'pickiest' of flaws that anyone can find in a movie.  But, because 90% of the cast were British (and therefore come from all over the country) they all speak with various (British!) accents.  I know that not every actor is gifted with the ability of putting on a convincing Russian accent, but it just felt really weird to me watching someone with a northern accent pretending to be a Russian cabinet minister.  For example, because Steve Buscemi doesn't try to disguise his natural US accent, I thought he was some sort of American ambassador to the government, until I realised he was part of it.

The cast is excellent.  They're clearly all having fun and you can see they're all having a good time working on this story.  And, if you know even a tiny bit about the historical events behind it, you should love it as much as I wished I did.  However, for me, personally, I just couldn't seem to get behind it, no matter how good the cast is.  Just check out the general ratings for the film - they're pretty high.  If you're wondering whether to watch the film or not, I think you should definitely go with their views over mine.  Sorry, Armando - but, don't worry, I'll still watch everything you go on to write.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights