Stalin's Disciples (1986)

Original title

ילדי סטאלין

Directed by

Nadav Levitan

Genre

drama film

Country

Israel

Runtime

1h 30m

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In 1953, the death of Joseph Stalin causes a crisis on an Israeli kibbutz that follows communist principles. Three elderly shoemakers begin to doubt their blind faith in Stalin when they learn about his crimes and antisemitism.

satiricalreflectivetensemelancholicslow-burnideologicalcerebralunsettling

What happens

Stalin's Disciples (Hebrew: ילדי סטאלין, in Hebrew Stalin's Children) is a 1986 Israeli film directed by Nadav Levitan that satirizes the utopian ideology of the Israeli kibbutz. The death of Joseph Stalin in the 1950s leads to an ideological crisis on a kibbutz that identifies with communist principles. The blind faith of three elderly shoemakers, who previously abused a young boy daring to criticize Stalin, begins to disintegrate when they learn of the Soviet leader's crimes and the manifest antisemitism on display at the Prague Trials. It's 1953 at Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzaier (The Young Guard, in Hebrew). Moshko (Hugo Yarden) admires Stalin's portrait at his shoemaker workshop as he cleans the dust off the mustache. The film was shot in Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Bread (1986)
• The Smile of the Lamb (1986)
• Dawn (1986)
• The Silence of the Sirens (2003)
• Avanti Popolo (1986)
• Unsettled Land (1987)
• Motive to Murder (1966)
• The 17th Bride (1985)