‘Insulting’ Death of Stalin pulled from Russian cinemas

A new movie which pokes fun at Russia’s past has been banned in the former Soviet Union.
British director Armando Iannucci’s Death of Stalin has been pulled from release in Russia, after culture tsar Vladimir Medinsky revealed his ministry had received a number of complaints about the movie, which imagines the power struggle created by Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s death in 1953.
“Many people of the older generation… will regard it as an insulting mockery of all the Soviet past, of the country that defeated fascism and of ordinary people, and what’s even worse, even of the victims of Stalinism,” Medinsky said in a statement, revealing he had told the film’s distributors it was inappropriate to release Death of Stalin on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad.
“There is a moral line between the critical analysis of our history and desecrating it,” the Culture Minister added.
Meanwhile, Nadezhda Usmanova, the head of the Russian Military Historical Society’s department of information, tells Reuters, “It’s a despicable film. It’s a bad film, it’s a boring film, and it’s vile, repugnant and insulting.”
Iannucci is hoping Medinsky and other Russian officials will reconsider.
“All the Russians we’ve shown the film to so far, including Russian journalists, have said how much they enjoyed and appreciated the film,” he said. “They say two things: it’s funny, but it’s true. I‘m still confident we can get it in cinemas.”
Stalin is not a beloved figure in Russia – many believe he was responsible for the deaths of millions and his policies lead to famine and starvation.