Today you are going to finish watching the film on Stalin!

-Part A-

In the last scene we saw Stalin being very angry about Soviet defeats in WW2, and then reaching a very low point due to the defeats…

Stalin addresses the nation and encourages them to fight. Then, Beria gives Stalin the news that Jakov has been taken prisoner…

The last days of Lieutenant Jakov Stalin

Colin Simpson and John Shirley, Sunday Times 24th Jan. 1980

Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator, died in 1953 with one abiding regret: he had been unable to discover the fate of his eldest son, Jakov, who of all his children – including even his daughter, Svetlana – was the one he had come to care about most.

Jakov had been a lieutenant in the Russian army. All Stalin knew was that he had been captured by the Germans at the Siege of Smolensk in 1941, and held in a prisoner of war camp. Rumours that he had died there conflicted with stories that he had escaped. The Russian leader was unable to establish the truth, and though towards the end of this life, he offered a reward of a million roubles, no information was forthcoming.

The truth about Jakov’s fate had in fact been known to the British for eight yers before Joe Stalin died. But they had deliberately suppressed it. ‘The evidence makes unsavoury reading’ notes a Foreign Office official after studying the details in 1945. ‘We do not think it would give Marshall Stalin any comfort.’

The full facts are contained in German documents, withheld by the Cabinet Office until now, although a bald summary was released in 1968. The Sunday Times has been allowed access to the documents. We have also managed to trace one survivor from the prisoner of war camp where Jakov was held.

The story that emerged is a grim one. In the end, Jakov Stalin committed suicide in a particularly horrifying manner, in the bleak surroundings of Sachsenhausen Camp. The only surviving witness to the incident Thomas ‘Red’ Cushing, still talks of the extraordinary pressures which drove Stalin to his death. He was watching through the window of a prison hut when Jakov finally met his end.

‘I remember it as if it were yesterday,’ said Cushing last week. ‘It was one of the saddest events of my life.’                   

You can read the rest of the article below:

Another article states:

For every American killed in World War II, 59 Russians were killed.

Stalin’s son, Jakov, was taken prisoner in May 1942. Later, the Germans offered Jakov to Stalin, to trade for Field Marshall Paulus, a German officer captured at Stalingrad. Stalin responded: “I will not exchange a private for a Field Marshall.” Jakov later died attempting to escape.

German POWs were kept in Russia till the mid 50’s as slave labor, and over 75% died in captivity.

We see Historical footage of WW2.

It is the Funeral of Sergei Alliluyev. It is Feb.1941

Present are:   

• Stalin
• Olga
• Svetlana
• Vasili (who is now also in the army)
• Beria

It is more or less April 1945. The USSR’s Victory in WW1 is celebrated. Children representing the various republics of the USSR bring honour to Stalin.

We see the last years of Stalin’s life. Svetlana and her son visit Stalin. It is the Winter of 1950. Svetlana asks Stalin to free Bukharin’s wife…

Stalin’s doctor examine him. It is more or less 1952. Stalin is now about 73 years old.

The doctor says that his heart is weak and that he has high blood pressure. Stalin does not trust the doctor or the medication that the doctor wants him to take. (By this time Stalin believed that their was a “doctors’ plot” against him and he considered another purge: this time of the medical profession!)

Stalin V-A. (14:15 minutes long)

-Part B-

Stalin’s inner circle dines with him & Svetlana. It is round about 1952.

• Stalin asks Nikita Khrushchev to dance for them.
• Stalin teases the people around him.
• Again, everyone is trying to please Stalin…
• The question arises ‘who will take Stalin’s place when he is not there anymore?’…

There is an endearing scene with Stalin & Svetlana, talking about Svetlana’s mother, Nadia.

It is 5 March 1953. Svetlana is “abducted” (from where she lived), to be taken to Stalin who is on his deathbed. (He had a stroke.)

Already present at Stalin’s deathbed are:   

• Khrushchev
• Molotov
• Voroshilov
• Beria
• Stalin’s doctor

Still 5 March 1953, Molotov & Khrushchev have a conversation in the toilets: They wonder why Beria took so long before the doctor was summoned…

• They suspect Beria of wanting Stalin dead, in order to take power himself.
• Khrushchev wonders what they would tell the population re. “Stalin’s crimes” (referring to the purges, etc.) after his death.
• Molotov advises him to keep quiet (as a way of denying “Stalin’s crimes”).
• Molotov also says how great Stalin was and how much he did for the USSR.

Svetlana arrives at Stalin’s deathbed (5 March 1953).

Present are now:

• Svetlana   
• Khrushchev   
• Molotov  
• Voroshilov 
• Beria   
• Stalin’s doctors  
• Stalin’s housekeeper

Stalin points up to a picture of Nadia, Svetlana’s mother, and tries to say something to Svetlana… Then he dies…

People are queuing to see Stalin’s body lying in state.

Stalin V-B. (19:31 minutes long)

1.

You can read more about Svetlana here: http://www.answers.com/topic/svetlana-alliluyeva

2.

-Stalin V-

(Below are the scenes watched today in one video clip.)

Stalin V. (33:11 minutes long)

3.

TRIVIA

To prepare for the role, Robert Duvall watched numerous hours of newsreels, read many books about Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, and spoke to Russians who remembered him. He said that playing Stalin was the most challenging role of his career.

The first American movie to be premiered in Moscow.

This movie premiered in Russia on the 75th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

The cast includes two Oscar winners: Robert Duvall (Joseph Stalin) and Maximilian Schell (Vladimir Lenin); and three Oscar nominees: Dame Joan Plowright (Olga Alliluyeva), Frank Finlay (Sergei Alliluyeva), and Daniel Massey (Leon Trotsky).

Director Ivan Passer was one of the many filmmakers responsible for the Czech New Wave movement of the 1960s. His Intimate lighting is considered a classic of the period. However, like so many others, the Prague Spring, which allowed new directions in arts, society, and politics, also stigmatized him when the Soviets invaded in 1968 and a harsh cloud descended over every aspect of life in Czechoslovakia. He emigrated to the U.S., hoping to restart his career there, but never managed to get the respect that his talents deserved. This movie is no doubt in part a negative homage to the ideological reverberations that so deeply scarred his professional life.

4.

Now, complete the film review for this film called“Stalin”.

Also show how many stars you give this film, by coloring in the number of stars that you think the film deserves.

5.

A few final quotes from the film…

Who are we to judge Stalin. Before him we were a weak, backward country, Now look at us. We control half of Europe… the whole of China… We have the atomic bomb… We command respect. Without Stalin, it would have take twenty years longer.

Molotov

You think I don’t know? Stalin knows. I know what you say, what you do… I know everything about you.

Stalin

Kamenev: We were promised our lives.
Beria: Comrade Stalin has revoked his promise.

Hitler will go the way of Napoleon… to defeat, to despair, and to his death.

Stalin

The mass conspirator accuses everyone else of conspiracy.

Bukharin (said about Stalin)

Nadia thought Stalin was going to change Russia… She was right.

Svetlana Alliluyeva

No brutality should be allowed although no revolution is possible without terror.

Lenin

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