Apokalypse Stalin

Apocalypse: Stalin

Good news and bad news...

First, hats off to the team that tracked down the archive footage, restored and colorized it. Some of the best visuals associated with WWI and WW2 I've ever seen. Brilliant work!

But next, a HUGE thumbs down to the writers of this mess! Tell the story, would you? Incessantly jumping 20, 30 even 40 years back and forth during storytelling is unnecessary, distracting and utterly confusing. I don't know who signed off on this poor excuse for a script.

So guys, try watching an episode of A&E Biography. They'll show you how to tell a compelling story...LINEARLY...

A stunning collection of archival footage of Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin and almost ever major character in Soviet political history in the past 100 years. Unfortunately, by the second episode this rambling account of Cazrist Russia, the early Bolshevik Revolution and Stalin's dictatorial role as a leader becomes so confusing no one can keep it straight. This documentary jumps between Stalin's unlikely youth as a thug, bank robber and revolutionary to his fascination with Lenin, Trotsky and the first Bolsheviks . It eventually encompasses his absolute authoritarian control over all other forms of Socialism and Communism. It's a shame the editor's jumped backwards and forwards so often we are not sure who actually killed Lenin or Trotsky.

Beautifully restored recordings.

Absolutely brutal honesty and directness in laying down the facts.

There are a lot of people who have only ever been in contact with pop culture portraying nazis as horrible enemies, and thus have an unwarranted positive attitude towards the polar opposite. Possibly because the americans have had enough of half a century of constant propaganda against the red menace, there is little talk and discussion about it.

Can you name at least half as many documentaries, movies, or explorations about the WW2 soviet union as there are about nazi germany?

Part of the reason why this series is so shocking is that factual reporting about the early soviets is so rare.

Another part are its poignant imagery and narration, brutal honesty, and quality of production.

A must see for a lot ... lot of people.

I really liked the Apocalypse series, they have nice visuals and they make the story very interesting. They taught me many things I didn't learn at school and I'm grateful for that. Kenji Kawai is a very talented musician and was a perfect choice for the soundtrack. Stalin has everything the other series had, but one thing. The story was a bit confusing as they were jumping backwards and forwards in the timeline, so there were times where I couldn't tell when the events were actually happening.

I cannot agree more with the 2 already existing reviews, this documentary had everything to become a classic, one to use to educate the future generations :

• a fascinating period of history
• a lot of research into facts & quotes
• unbelievable recoloured archives of extreme quality and powerful images we've never seen before

Why they thought it necessary to go back and forth in time is beyond me !

I still give it a 7 because I was fascinated by the images and the facts, but with a simple chronological narration, that would have been a straight 10.