Ubit Stalina (2013– ) User Reviews

Not a complete let down

[sbaxter-08958 · 4/10 · 12 January 2021]

The Great Patrotic War is only the stage for this show which is essentially a spy drama. Germany is intent on killing Stalin and launches several efforts to do so, which is fine except there is no evidence of such an effort in 1941 (when the show's events take place). In the last year of watching a lot of Russian shows and movies, I have found that their crime and spy dramas leave a lot to be desired. Usually a sensible plot is missing as is the case in this one. The investigator knows or suspects a plot and seeks out the culprits, usually chasing several different ones only to find they are innocent. In Kill Stalin, one suspect pops in and out of the investigator's sights a few times while the real threat, who starts off in no position to kill Stalin, manages to position himself to do so (unbelievable part of the plot) and remains unsuspected until the end.

The translation for the English subtitles is not bad and the few times the translation made no sense I felt no desire to figure out what went wrong. In other words, the statement was unimportant to the show.

Beria got more screen time in this show than any other I have seen. He was shown as being terrified of Stalin and terrifying everyone else but maybe less than I expected and perhaps less than in real life (investigator fails to carry out a direct order from Beria and lives).

Still, this show ranks above "Spies Must Die," which I cannot watch.

Watchable piece of Russia history

[searchanddestroy-1 · 30 November 2016]

I have always been highly interested in films and documents about Russia history, but since many years now, all the stuff made is not released in France, except some rare ones and only in DVD. But not them all, like this one. I am also surprised that even a Russian viewer has not commented it yet. I received it with English subtitles. It is interesting, except the directing and overall editing is somewhat corny, and sometimes laughable, but that doesn't spoil the overall work after all. One thing amused me, the actor playing Stalin looks like another dictator: Saddam Hussein. Ha ha ha ... And, as we can expect, it is rather foreseeable, the good Russians vs the bad and ugly Germans - Nazis. The Russian movie industry looks very like the American and South Korean one, with also many poignant and tearful sequences, made to make the audiences weep. This mini series should have been released in France, but I guess the problem was that it was a mini series instead a film. Most stuff from Russia shown in France in DVD are movies and not mini series. Shameful.