mramrshalaby The history of the Soviet Union was NEVER taught. The USSR killed more than 65,000,000 innocent human beings and NOT ONE Soviet criminal ever stood trail. When USSR collapsed, there were NO trials held for the living, walking, talking Soviet criminals that tortured, maimed, displaced, oppressed, and subverted thousands upon thousands of lives.The Soviet criminals climbed down the Berlin Wall to climb up the White House fence to start another United Socialist States of America (USSA).The people MUST read the Soviet history over and over again. The terrors, the tortures, the horrors, and the evils of Trotsky, Yagoda, Kanganovich, and Carl Marx must NEVER take hold anywhere EVER again.Betty Friedan, the founder of modern Feminism, who had the gall to call "American homes are concentration camps for women" was a Marxist. Marxism will carry over, and through, modern feminism, gay movements, and financial cartels that seek the moral, intellectual, and political corruption by any means necessary.

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.

maestro-45 With Stalin HBO outdoes itself and it can be attributed entirely to Robert Duvall -which is not to say that the rest of the cast is not top notch, it is. Historically Stalin is one of the greatest monsters that ever walked the earth. Duvall manages to catch this ghastly aspect of the man but still makes the Soviet tyrant irresistible. No doubt about it those old Soviets who took over Russia after the czar were a ruthless bunch and among that murderous crowd Stalin rose to the top of the heap by out doing every one in the terror stakes. Given what was going on in the world Stalin may have been the right leader for Russia -- rule that mess of nationalities with an iron hand. This is not to excuse his terror, but to recognize that that country was largely ungovernable except by force. Since the fall of communism about 20 years ago, Russians have told pollsters that they have nostalgia for Stalin's good old days. Maybe not for his drop of a hat terror, but because he got things done. Robert Duvall captures this and make the character likable while he goes on his merry murdering way. Especially in his interaction toward the end, the last scene he has with his grown up grand daughter. It is some of the best acting ever put on film and a must see!!

pawebster The first person in line for Stalin's purges should have been the makeup designer. Duvall looks almost as unnatural as Hugo Weaving in his mask in V for Vendetta. Considering that he speaks and acts as if he is in one of his Godfather movies, the overall effect is extremely weird and rather one-dimensional.Perhaps Stalin was indeed simply a very nasty paranoid despot who murdered everyone in sight, but if so this film is much too long, since we get the message very early on.It might have helped if we could have had more of the history involved - for example how exactly Stalin managed to take power after Lenin's death and his tactics in playing off the right against the left (and vice versa). The show trials could also have been exploited more, as could the wide extent of the purges - and also the minor matter of the Second World War, which is largely glossed over.As it is, just seeing Stalin liquidate the rest of the film's cast one by one is horrifying but rather monotonous.