Bonus - The state funeral of Josef Stalin (179)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode is sponsored by MUBI, a curated streaming service with an ever-changing collection of hand-picked cinema. From new directors to award-winners. From everywhere on earth. Beautiful, interesting, incredible films — with a new one added every single day. Right now on MUBI, you can watch STATE FUNERAL, an astonishing archival vision of the Soviet Union in the days after Joseph Stalin’s death. The film is followed by a Q&A with director Sergei Loznitsa in conversation with Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden). James Chilcott, Peter Ryan and I had exclusive access to a preview version and in today’s episode we discuss our thoughts on the film. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations 0:00 Introduction and Sponsor: Mubi 0:44 Discussion on the film "State Funeral" and first impressions 6:06 Power dynamics after Stalin's death and potential successors 10:27 Observations on foreign delegations and British Communist Party's delegation 14:26 Analysis of the film's cinematography and reactions to Stalin's death 19:10 Origin and unseen footage of the film 20:24 Influence of the film on younger generations 22:48 Personal anecdotes and the fate of Stalin's family members 28:53 Review of the film and Sponsor: Mubi 31:14 Insights into the life of average Soviet citizens and stereotypes 35:23 Body language in the film and reflections on the speeches 39:31 The film as a representation of Soviet Union in 1953 and recommendation Chapters powered by PodcastAI✨ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:10.3	Now, we all love a good movie, and in this sponsored episode, Cold War Conversations has partnered with Mooby,
0:18.4	a curated streaming service with an ever-changing collection of lovingly
0:22.8	hand-picked cinema. From new directors to award winners from everywhere on earth, beautiful,
0:29.7	interesting, incredible films with a new one added every single day.
0:34.8	Sergei Losnitsa's State Funeral is now streaming exclusively on Mooby, and our listeners can
0:41.9	watch this film and much more for 30 days free at Mooby.com slash Cold War.
0:49.3	That's Mubi.com slash Cold War.
0:54.2	State funeral is an astonishing vision of the Soviet Union in the days after Joseph
0:59.2	Stalin's death, which saw a mass procession of mourners visit his coffin prior to a monumental
1:05.5	funeral ceremony in Red Square.
1:09.0	James Chilcott, Peter Ryan and I had exclusive access to a preview version, and in this
1:15.0	episode we discuss our thoughts on the film.
1:20.5	I did not know what to expect when I started watching state funeral.
1:26.1	I have to admit the period of Stalinism and sort of what happened when Stalin died and
1:34.3	immediately thereafter are not areas that I have done a lot of study on.
1:39.0	But in preparation for watching the movie, I did read up a little bit.
1:43.3	My impressions were, number one,
1:46.2	it was incredibly well edited and very well put together.
1:50.1	I couldn't get over the quality of the footage.
1:54.5	You know, the crispness of the images was really quite something.
1:58.2	And equally speaking, it was, for me me fascinating to not just get a glimpse of the
	...

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