"Inside the Terror" Documentary Review
Written by: Stuart McKnight
Written by: Stuart McKnight
The film Stalin: Inside the Terror, produced by the BBC, gives insight to the years Stalin was in power and the hardship and danger of Russian life. The film was created for the 50th anniversary of Stalin’s death, showing how his life was led both in the early days of his life, all the way through until he died. The film tells of how Stalin studied to be a priest, but when he saw the opportunities of being a revolutionary, he stopped studying to be a priest and became a large figure in the revolution. He was exiled from Russia for 3 years leaving his life in Russia. The film also covers his role in the revolution and the aggressive and ruthless style of his ruling. The film is created from the combination of historical film clips, and also re-enactments done by professional actors. The re-enactments are well done and look historically realistic. It shows what a terrible man Stalin really was. How he was ruthless and would do whatever he had to do to stay ahead of his opponents. We found this documentary interesting and would recommend it to people interested in learning more about Stalin's route to power and his years of controlling the country. This film did have some potentially visually disturbing scenes so we wouldn't recommend it to children. It was a very factual film, but I didn't find it dry but rather it kept my interest. We are reading the book "Breaking Stalin's Nose" by Eugene Yelchin, which is a book about a little boy growing up admiring and wanting to be like Stalin. Sasha, the main character, is very loyal to Stalin, but when he accidentally breaks his nose off a statue is school, he faces a personal struggle of letting Stalin down and also everyone feeling he is a traitor. The book also shows Stalin's ruthless and unfair punishment. Sasha's dad was taken off to Lubyanka, the headquarter of the secret police and where Sasha's dad was put in jail, for suspected spy activity while his mom supposedly died in hospital, but is implied later in the story that she was actually killed by the secret police. It was interesting to learn how the kids respected and admired him so much, but when you research into him more, it becomes apparent that the kids had a false idea of Stalin's true personality.Sasha is greatly looking forward to becoming a Pioneer, and becoming closer to being like Stalin. This Pioneer group reminded me of the Hitler Youth group that the children of Germany were in during the time of Hitler’s dictatorship. The children in both Germany and Russia took pride in trying to achieve a higher level in the Hitler Youth program or becoming a pioneer, and after my studies of both Germany and Russia this was another connection I made. 
After reading this blog, I felt it necessary to add more information on Lubyanka. Lubyanka was built in 1898 for the All-Russia Insurance Company. After the Bolshevik Revolution the building was seized by the Russian Government and became the headquarter for the secret police. During the Great Purge in 1934 through 1939, Stalin doubled the size of the building to accommodate for more government employees. The offices were on the 3rd floor primary, with less important peoples offices on the second floor. The ground floor contained the prison, where many famous inmates were tortured and interrogated. Once the secret police were removed, some of the building is now used to house the Border Guard Service of Russia, and the Lubyanka Prison still exists. In addition a museum, Historical-demonstration hall of the Russian FSB, was added to the building. In 1990 the Solovetsky Stone was erected to remember and commemorate the people who were effected by the political repression in Russia. I found it interesting looking more into the Lubyanka building, especially after reading this blog post and connecting was I learned to the book I'm reading now, Breaking Stalin's Nose.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog post I felt like it would be helpful to other readers if more detail was added when connecting the two pieces. The author could have talked more about how both pieces included evidence that Stalin was crazy in the sense that he would do anything he felt was necessary to stay at the top of power in Russia. For example how Stalin imprisoned his own family in the film and how Stalin imprisoned Sasha's loyal father in Breaking Stalin's Nose.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this blog post I started to look at what a Pioneer is in more detail.The pioneers started out as a boy scout group, and in 1917 some scouts took the Bolsheviks side which would lead to the start of the pioneers. Most of the scout masters fought for the white army. In 1918- 1920 the Russian congress decided to launch the scout movement and create an organization of the communist type. This would take the soviet youth under its umbrella
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the blog I felt like it would be a good idea to write a little bit more about the Author of the book “Breaking Stalin’s Nose” Eugene Yelchin, so if you had some questions about him this might maybe answer them. Eugene Yelchin was born on October 18, 1956 in St. Petersburg Russia. The number one thing that I found interesting about Yelchin was that me himself was Russian but also he was Jewish. So as you can see he was liked. From 1979 to 1983 Yelchin worked for Russian theaters making costumes and sets. As he did this he lived a double life and wouldn't use his real name because then people would find out about him being Jewish. Around the same time period Yelchin would also begin to get into art and trying to become a well known artist. Being well known wouldnt fit in the picture because people found out who he was and he was frowned upon. After seeing no chance in Russia Yelchin moved to to Boston where there he became an editorial illustrator that is where he got his inspiration for writing. After a couple years he graduated from the University of Southern California with a film program. He then started on advertising for some t.v. shows in 2007. After getting tired of the advertisement life he then moved on to illustrating and writing children's books. And here he is now known for with several well known children's books like “Breaking Stalin’s Nose”.
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