From what I understand, while filmed in part in Russia, this one is now banned there. Based on a comic book of the same name, this Armando Iannucci (director/screenplay) dark historical comedy-drama shows Stalinism as both nightmare cult of personality and terror reaching deep into Soviet life in 1953. A terrorized Mafia frat boy culture of murdering survivors and victims-to-be prevails in the Central Committee itself with the befuddled Malenkov (a vacillating, clueless and vain Jeffrey Tambor), a tragic, devious Molotov (Python’s Michael Palin), the almost human Krushchev (a superb Steve Buscemi), and of course, the appalling rapist-murderer enforcer Beria (Simon Russell Beale). No one is innocent of horrific crimes, deceit, lies, and betrayals. All seek to woo Stalin (Adrian McLaughlin) with grotesque tales of carnage and abuse while saving themselves in the process. Each is jockeying for position and survival. No one is safe. And it all falls into even deeper chaos when Stalin dies and the succession struggles begin with, no spoiler, Krushchev coming out on top in the end. NKVD-Beria vs Red Army-Zhukov adds fuel to the fire. That an historical outcome so predictable can be made ‘exciting’ is quite a feat. It makes the tension between true popular love for Stalin as Godlike leader and utter fear of him a central component of the story. It presents an environment where prisoners being shot cry his name in love and pseudo-religious faith. To do so, Iannucci brings a dark Keyston Cops feel to elements and sets up wild characters like the drunken son, Vasily Stalin (Rupert Friend), to appall and humor, while his sister, the tragic bipolar Svetlana (Andrea Riseboroug) brings both emotion and a bizarre petulance and lack of comprehension to her tyrant-father’s death. I liked this film as a bizarre nightmare comedy of how the surreal becomes normalized and truth isn’t true to begin with, heroes become ‘traitors,’ criminals become heroic victims, and everything can be tomorrow’s fake news You think it might resonate a bit for me?. My Russian historian friends and colleagues have not gone to see this one, some as an act of protest at the cartoonish or caricatured presentation of a major historical catastrophe. I liked it; Bronwen did not. .