The death of 1500 civilians at the hand of the NKVD as a result of Nikita ordering the borders be opened, even if the NKVD were assigned by Beria.
As entertaining as the movie is, and it is quite frankly a hilarious movie at times, I don't think it ever pretends that this was a wonderful time in history nor does it try to sugarcoat the horrible shit that happened in the aftermath. And I imagine it also must capture how stressful it was to be either of these two men (Nikita and Beria) during this time, not knowing what their future would hold, whether they would even be alive at the end of that particular year. I imagine that, while not necessarily 100% historically accurate, this movie captures the immediacy of the importance of what is to come next for the Soviet Union.
Like I said, however, the film is, quite frankly, quite fucking great and the story it tells is so damn fascinating that it inspires you, if you didn't know about this chapter in history, to pick up a book detailing the consequences of Nikita and Beria's actions in the immediate aftermath of Stalin's death. The film covers so much ground and, quite honestly, Soviet Union politics are not my forte, so I'm not even gonna bother going through every tiny little detail the film has to offer. That the Soviet Union stood for thirty more years after this should tell you THAT story. Beria and Nikita both paint their intentions for those of the betterment of the country but, deep down, it's painfully clear that they want to lead the Soviet Union into a, supposedly, more prosperous period. Georgy Malenkov, Stalin's successor, really is kind of a patsy and he doesn't really run anything, Beria and Nikita are the men pulling the strings from behind the scenes, as it were, Georgy is just the figurehead that they have propped up at the moment to give the nation a sense of continuity during this transitional period in Soviet Union's history. There's a sort of manic energy surrounding the events of the movie as, in many ways, and this clearly oversimplifies what happens, it's kind of a tug-of-war between Nikita and Beria and they're trying to pull as hard and as fast as they can to, basically, improve their position. It's completely and utterly fascinating to watch honestly. He's taken a look at the immediate aftermath of Stalin's death, the instant political machinations by both Beria and Nikita in order to assert their vision for the Soviet Union's future by manipulating those around them, trying to gain as many people in the presidium in their favor in order to oust the other. Armando Iannucci is a satirist, well-known for his political satires The Thick Of It (which was extended to an excellent film called In The Loop), Veep and, obviously, this movie. Armando Iannucci isn't Kenneth Branagh, who would probably go nuts if he was to write and direct this movie, making a four-hour comprehensive epic that would be as close to the real thing as humanly possible. To criticize the movie for not being historically accurate, mostly historians, I feel, is kind of missing the point of the movie.
And, of course, I'm not here to suggest that this movie is entirely 100% historically accurate, because it's not. You tell me which class you're gonna remember more? This brings us to this little flick right here. It's not just a stand-up routine, you're actually also learning something about the Soviet Union in the aftermath of Stalin's death. Now, let's take out Ben Stein out of the equation and, say, we put George Carlin in his place or whomever your favorite comic is. For example, take this movie, as an example, and imagine this as a class taught by Ben Stein. None of that resonates with kids or, really, any student of any age for that matter. Same thing applies to a teacher with no passion for what they do. Nobody is gonna learn anything from a teacher like that. But, let's just say, that your teacher is like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where his monotone and boring form of talking means that he's, essentially, a substitute for Ambien to the kids taking his classes. And there's some truth to that in that you should also learn.
I know some of you, particularly those from an older generation, might say that learning or education isn't about having fun, it's about, well, learning, of course. This is especially true when it refers to school topics such as history, math, english or whatever other subject you may be covering. I've always felt, and feel that this is something that most of you know or, maybe, should know, that you retain information better if you're having fun or if you're being entertained.
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