Sometimes I'll Watch Anything

 

Such was the case of the new documentary I just streamed.  "State Funeral" is all about the immediate days following the death of Joseph Stalin and the profound grief that it prompted among the citizens of the Soviet.

Now, just for starters, this film is not to be confused with the comedic farce of several years ago called "The Death of Stalin" which was something akin to a Marx Brothers movie.  Nope, "State Funeral" is all serious all the time.    Apparently, to amplify the importance of this clown, the Soviet government employed 200 cameramen to photograph every single moment of the death and subsequent funeral.   Who the hell knew there were even 200 cameras in Russia?

I was oddly drawn to this documentary.   Indeed, there is no script.  There are no talking head historians.   There are no words except for the short eulogies given.  And they are in Russian with no subtitles.

Yet, I kept watching as they carried his box from hither to yon.   It had this little glass bubble in it so you could see Stalin's head at all times.   For several days, he lied in state and virtually every citizen of the country walked by the bier.  Most of the women were crying and/or wailing.  "State Funeral" was nothing but two plus hours of this footage.

And yet I kept watching.  The love and adoration for this man was on full display.  Or was a lot of it staged?   Who knows?   From what I hear, his embalmed corpse was still on display up until a few years ago.    Now there's a tourist stop.   Still, the whole thing was mesmerizing.

When it ends, the filmmakers finally float some English onto the screen.   They remind the audience that, during Stalin's reign, 26 million Russian citizens were tortured and/or executed.

So there.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover beef and rice.