When you think of Joseph Stalin, you don’t necessarily think of the adjective humorous very often- at least, I hope not. Yet when I saw that there was a movie out right now portraying this period of time in more comedic light, I had to see what this film was all about. By the time the film was over I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it, but I would definitely say I had some really good laughs during the course of the film.   

With the creative mind of Armando Iannucci behind the this dark comedy, the film is about the events that followed after the death United Soviet Socialist Republic dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953, and how his cronies attempt to grab on to the power he once held. Stalin’s former cronies constantly try to undermine each other in any method possible to gain a little more power than the other, while having no consideration for the lives they destroy in the process.

I thought this movie was genius in how it could portray such a dark time period with so much death, yet be so funny that you found yourself laughing during the entirety of the movie. Another wonderful aspect of the film was that, during the course of all the humor this movie possessed, it still did a great job of explaining the historical context and portraying the general feelings of fear in the USSR about the fear of death at the time.

Lastly, I also enjoyed that the movie painted a good picture who all the characters were in Stalin’s cabinet, and making it clear on what they were really after after Stalin’s sudden death.

As for aspects I found bad while watching the movie, it was hard for me to say. If I had to really choose one it would probably be the ending of the movie. What I mean by this is that I found the end of the film to be kind of dragging and less funny. Yet, other than that, there aren’t really any aspects of this movie to nitpick at for me.

I think this movie is fabulously humorous for such an awful period in time, and feel that this is such a dynamic and fascinating film. I believe this movie deserves for anyone to go see it in theaters right now.