State Funeral

This is a documentary about a very important episode in the life of a big country - the funeral of the leader, the father of the people, as he was called. The personality of Stalin, even in our time, is quite controversial, but undoubtedly significant.

It was very interesting to see the live footage of the event, the faces of people of that era, Moscow of those years, the decoration of the Hall of Columns, where Stalin reclined.

I peered curiously at their faces: how they listened to the announcement of his death, what emotions they reflected or they tried to suppress. How they cried or watched warily, how they were dressed, how they behaved.

This is a chronicle, there is no director's assessment, just the opportunity to go back to those three days when the whole country said goodbye to its leader.

It was also interesting to see the reaction of the audience in the hall: after the show, someone went out recalling stories about this event, and someone sang patriotic songs, standing at the side of the balcony like ghosts of that era.

And mostly I had a sense of theatricality while watching a movie. Of course, the appeals of the country's leaders to the people should have a certain rhetoric, but such pathetic speeches with an abundance of pathos and slogans today seem something unnatural.