HISTORY LESSONS: The Death of Stalin (2017)

Macintosh & Maud Haven't Seen What?!

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CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of a suicide from 31:20-31:44 and abuse and torture of prisoners from 33:19-34:08. Also, discussion of mass murder, antisemitism, alcoholism, execution, mass killings, death, grief.

We move out of the fog of war to a much weirder and funnier moment of history this week as we dive into the power vacuum of Soviet power in 1953. More importantly, though, we’re watching an Armando Iannucci film, which means razor-sharp satire and incredibly inventive cursing, both of which are present here. But while the movie is executed impeccably, it misses the absurd scale of Soviet terror and power under their most feared and, at times, respected leader. To be sure, the performances here are incredibly funny and on the mark. But Iannucci wanted to pull punches in the name of realism and perhaps should have just leaned in a bit more. Make sure to run while you plot your next move as we discuss The Death of Stalin on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

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Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpt taken from the “National Anthem of the USSR” as performed by The Red Army Choir, copyright 2002 Silva America.

Excerpts taken from the film The Death of Stalin are © 2017 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpt taken from "Tema Di Ali (#2)” from the motion picture The Battle of Algiers composed by Ennio Morricone and Gillo Pontecorvo. ℗© 1966, 2015 Creazioni Artistiche Musicali C.A.M. srl. (una Società del Gruppo Sugar) / Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl.