Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

stevehoyland What a pity that this TV movie wasn't Instead a Hollywood production, then perhaps It would have gotten the awards It so richly deserves. Anyone with knowledge of Stalin and his cohorts will appreciate how well all the main characters are portrayed by the mainly British cast but with American Duvall at his very best. I always appreciate historical accuracy and while some major events are missed and (perhaps through poor editing) not every situation and relationship between characters Is properly explained, this Is nevertheless a marvelous historical film almost on the scale of epic - It deserved general release and an extra half-hour would have gone a long way In tidying up the gaps In the story. Duvall does a great Job as Stalin - the mannerisms, his icy coldness behind the smile - okay so his Russian accent Is a bit "off" In places but to criticize his performance Just for that would be grossly unfair. TV movies are by nature generally "mild", being as they are aimed generally for family viewing, but a lack of bad language and sex scenes, and Indeed only a little blood (and no gore) Is a breath of fresh air - besides, none of that stuff Is needed here; we don't have to see the terror, we can feel It, we see It In the faces, hear It In the voices and Insinuations - It grows and pervades the whole film. This Is the best TV Movie I have ever seen and Is definitely In my top 100 films.

oragex I think it's worth a 7/10 but given the focus on Stalin's way of thinking, I give it a 8/10.Some actors play well, others more like on a theater stage. Some scenes are strangely filmed, more like a theater act for some reason.Not the type of 'entertainment' film, as we would see in a Hollywood production, it's somehow like a narration acted documentary.But the main thing is the focus on the main subject. We get to see that Stalin had normal conversations, daily normal contacts with individuals surrounding him. This because we may see him as an horrifying Godzilla because of his dictator status. The scene at the cemetery with the members of his family is eloquent. Despite the poor acting of some of the family members, we get the picture of a dysfunctional clan, and his place into this clan as well.What was in his mind? From the movie, it seems he had for part of the time a lucid mind and evaluation of things, but this seems coupled with a 'broken' part of his mind, altered perhaps by distressing psychological fear and intense physical abuse perpetrated by his father. His (Stalin's) mind seem to had a deranged area of the brain were there is no judgment but fear, violence, brutality, a willing to preserve his own integrity by destroying what appears to put this integrity in danger. If the movie is right, what triggered this brain area was the fear of others, people who would want to hurt him, to his understanding. What caused him to suspect so many random people in this way is not explained in the movie.Put such disturbed brain at power, at the head of an organization or state, and see what happens.

PWNYCNY This is one of the better historical biopics. Robert Duvall manages to do a credible job in portraying the title character - Stalin. Not surprisingly, Duvall is in just about very scene, and he succeeds in doing credit to the role. He approximates Stalin, which is the most any actor could possibly do. The movie works because instead of sensationalizing Stalin's excesses, which are addressed in the movie, it instead deals with his personal behavior, especially his relationships, both personnel and professional, with those closest to him. The movie shows that Stalin was not incapable of love nor of empathy; it also shows that he revered Lenin and was committed to ensuring that Lenin's work continue. The movie also shows what was Stalin's fundamental character flaw - his inability to trust, the cause of which remains unknown. This flaw led to abuses of power that are perhaps unequaled in history. One of the more interesting features of Stalin was his tendency to rationalize his most outrageous and murderous decisions and repress his own feelings, the combination of which made him come off as cold and uncaring. For Stalin did care - about the preserving and protecting the revolution which he identified with himself. Stalin simply could nor separate himself personally from his work, and this distorted his relationships, causing him to do things that were, to say the least, hurtful. Stalin had a tendency to lash out at those closest to him, which made working with him challenging. The movie shows that one had to be careful as to how they acted and what they said around Stalin, because Stalin was looking for any excuse to prove you an enemy of the revolution, which in turn meant being his enemy. If one is interested in learning something about Joseph Stalin the person, then watch this movie.

meritcoba "This Stalin was not a very nice dude." Henry remarked. He was having a bud, because he always had Budweiser in his fridge, which was a huge red contraption from the firm Northstar that was a remake of those older refrigerators from the fifties. Kristl might have also had a bud, but then she felt that the west was already over Americanized, so instead she drunk triple X. "Why on earth would you drink an Australian beer as a German?" Henry had remarked, when Kristl ordered the six pack via the internet. "Austrian." Kristl corrected. "Eh.. Triple X is Australian. Oh wait. Sorry. You meant you are Austrian." he grinned, "Don't they have Ger.. eh. Austrian beers?" "Yes, but I like Triple X." Kristl had said."No, he wasn't even though the movie is more focused on his private life than I would have expected. It seems to sort of make him look more favorable than I imagine him to be, but even then he remains a scary individual. The way he can be very jolly with you and then suddenly have you ordered to death. Like that moment when one of his old friends is about to be arrested by secret police and Stalin 'happens' to call at that very moment and orders them to leave.The sadist laughs at it. It just pictures him as madman." "Yeah. I think everyone he knew ended up dead eventually. And when he tosses his burning cigar down his wives shirt: what a nasty thing to do. " "There a lot of things that they had to skip it seems. Like there is a part missing at the beginning of World War II where the Sovjet-Union invade Finland, had a kind of shadow war with the Japanese and signed a pact with Hitler that gave him control over the Baltic nations and the eastern part of Poland. Also skipped is the part where a thousands of polish officers were massacred on his order. The list could be extended. Like the way the west tried to dispose of the communist regime at the end of the first world war. Like in the twenties there was a kind of alliance with Germany. Or the Ukrainian uprising at the end of the Second World War. All things that must have influenced this man and his decisions. " "Yeah." "The pity with this movie is that you somehow does not get to grips with the person of Stalin.. Even though Stalin is the subject of the movie, it feels like you are watching him from the outside, but never get in his inside.Never find his motivation or his side of the story. In that I find the move somewhat sterile. You never get to know what moved this man and what possessed him. Why he did those things?" "I think that might be because of the makeup. It looks like Duvalls is wearing a mask. His facial expression is almost non-existent." "I like Robert Duvall, he is a good actor, but they hamstrung him with that mask and thus the movie suffers. You are watching a statue.Still even then Duvall is marvelous because he tries to invoke emotions with that part of his face that is not cloaked with wax." "Yeah, I am left with the feeling that Stalin was a homicidal nut-case surrounded by nut-cases, most of whom were as Homicidal as he was.." Henry said. "And it leaves me with questions. Like how can a nut-case rule a big country like that for decades on end. It seems to beyond belief. Too simple an explanation to assume he is just a nut-case." "Also the movie suffers a bit because his wife kills herself halfway. Basically the story is told by following her and then she dies and that leaves the story suddenly without a focus and it never gets a focus again even though the story is told by his daughter.." Kristl nodded. "So leaves you a bit unfulfilled?" "Yes." "That is why we have beer." Henry grinned and he opened another bud. "Oh, to get fulfilled?" Kristl said. "Yes and to forget we are not." Henry burped. "And forget about him." "That too."