Red Monarch (TV Movie 1983)

Red Monarch (TV Movie 1983). 1h 41m

“One of the big mysteries of film history is why Jack Goldu0026#39;s u0026#39;Red Monarchu0026#39; has as good as disappeared: It is hard to find, does not come on the telly, and has, as of today (23/12/23), garnered no more than three reviews on IMDb. All this is a mystery because the film is absolutely brilliant. It shows Stalinu0026#39;s (Colin Blakely) private life in about 1950-53, and it does so largely accurately. You may gasp at what you see, but it all happened more or less like the film shows it. Stalinu0026#39;s paranoia, sadistic humour and skill as a manipulator are well attested, as is Beriau0026#39;s (David Suchet) role as serial rapist who forced his underlings to supply him with pretty young athletes. Check Sebag-Montefioreu0026#39;s u0026#39;Court of the Red Czaru0026#39; – he has the details and the references to original sources. For all that, u0026#39;Red Monarchu0026#39; is not a documentary; it is a comedy steeped in sarcastic, dark humour, which is arguably the only approach to the horrors of Stalinism that does not put your sanity at risk. The only reason why I am not rating the film higher than 8 stars is its episodic structure. While the same figures appear across all the short vignettes that make up the movie, there is no narrative arc. In that respect, u0026#39;The Inner Circleu0026#39; (1991) is better. But only in that respect.”