The Inner Circle (1992)

Thanks for the memories!

One of my all time favorites.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

**SPOILER** True story of Iavn Sanshin, Tom Hulce, who became Russian Dictator Joseph Stalin's, Aleksandr Zbruyev, personal film projectionist and, in his mind, close and personal friend. It's during the turbulent years of WWII that Ivan got to know Stalin and his henchmen like the head of the infamous NKVD-erroneously referred to in film as the KGB-Lavrenty Beria, Bob Hoskins. In fact the KGB replaced the NKVD in 1954 a year after Baria's death and fifteen years after the events in the movie "The Inner Circle" were to take place.Ivan working his way up the ladder as a Soviet KGB officer, in the field of communications, gets more and more detached from his wife Anastasia, Lolita Davidovich,that leads her to almost leave him. Swearing blind and total obedience to his great leader Comrade Stalin Ivan overlooks the horror that Stalin, and his Commie thugs, have brought upon the Russian people as well as nation. It's when Ivan gets Anastasia a job as a waitress to the Soviet bigwigs that he learns how evil and despicable they really are. This later leads Anastasia to hang herself leaving a distraught Ivan, who had told her he loved Comrade Stalin more then herself, to rethink his misplaced and fanatical love for "Uncle Joe" Stalin and his Socialist Soviet Peoples Republic; or in short USSR. Still under the spell of the "Great Liberator" and "Man of the People", as well as every boys and girls best friend, Joseph Stalin Ivan soon comes in contact with 17 year old Katya Gubelman, Bess Meyer whom he hasn't seen in over ten years. Katya as an infant was sent away to a KGB orphanage after her parents-Ivan's next door neighbors-were accused and sent to Siberia for secretly working and spying, by going on a trip abroad, for the Capitalists.Even though Katya-like Ivan-is a fanatical follower of the Russian Dictator, she thinks he's cute, it's very obvious that she's been brainwashed, at the KBG orphanage, and is too young and impressionable to see the truth behind the man. There's nothing good or decent as well as patriotic about Stalin at all! In fact he's one of the biggest mass murderers in recorded history who's victims far outnumber even those of Adolph Hitler! And on top of all that it's Stalin, or his underlines, who's responsible for the deaths, in a Siberian Soviet gulag, of Katya's own parents!It took a long while for Ivan to come to realize what his devotion to Stalin and the rotten and corrupt system, Stalinist Communism, that he represented did not only to himself but to the tens of millions of Russians, like Katya, who blindly and almost religiously worshiped him.This dark period in Russian history came crashing down to an end on March 5, 1953 when the "Great Patriotic Leader" of the Soviet Union-Joseph Stalin-quietly passed away in his sleep at the ripe old age of 73. At Stalin's state funeral millions of Russians tried to get a last glimpse of the Soviet Dictator, with hundreds being crushed to death in the process, as he lie in state in the "Hall of Soviet Heros" inside the Kremlin. It was some three years later that Stalin was exposed to the Russian people, as well as entire world, as the madman and murderous psycho that he really was by non-other then his former Ukrainian butt-kisser, who carried out some of Stalin's worst atrocities, and now new-in 1956-leader of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev.After lying in state next to the founder, and fellow Commie thug, of the USSR the mummified Vladimir Lenin Stalin's body, on Khrushchev's direct orders, was removed from its place of honor and buried in a common and unmarked grave outside the Kremlin walls. So much for the "Great Liberator" of the Russian people who, according to his propaganda ministry, watched over them like a sweet and kindly old gardener lovingly watches over, and nurtures, his prized tulips roses and lilies! P.S Aleksandr Zbruyev's, the Russian actor playing Joseph Stalin in the movie, father Victor who was a vice-minister of communications in the USSR back in the 1930's was arrested and convicted for being a Capitalist spy in 1937 a year before Aleksandr was born. After Victor's staged show-trial, that lasted just 15 minutes, he was taken outside the courtroom and executed within the Kremlin walls.

After reading the comments of several Russians who have given their special insights on this film, I see no point in my going into detail about its plot. But, for the Americans who were bored with it... well, history is not your thing, to use the vernacular. For me, this movie exposed the odious nature of Soviet totalitarianism, and the complete human conformity that was required for survival. This is an important film.

I decided to review this film because of its emotional impact. Like "The Killing Fields," it creates tremendous tension in the viewer by portraying sympathetic, likable characters within an environment of tremendous evil.The acting and cinematography are both excellent, making a direct connection with the feelings of every character.My only criticism is very slight (I did rate it a 10, after all), but I wondered a bit at the persistance of Sanchin's naivete. While this is central to his character, I found it a little difficult to comprehend based on what he went through.

This film is a great favorite of mine, though it's a hard-sell to recommend to friends. It's an extremely moving story that brings tears to your eyes, without manipulating you by "pulling the strings." The pathos emerge from the events and the (very well-played) characters depicted. Russian artists seem to have a special affinity for this, and for Konchalovsky this is a very accessible film. Was it tailor-made for Western audiences? The cast would suggest so. Although Tom Hulce was wonderful in "Amadeus," seeing him in "The Inner Circle" impressed me no end. I think it's telling that more than one reviewer of Russian descent on the IMDb found his characterization quintessentially Russian. It's a damn shame we don't see more of his work in films these days. The character of Ivan's wife Anastasia might have helped given rise to some comments that the characters are two-dimensional. As played by Lolita Davidovich, she is all simple, sweet naivety. Somewhat distractingly, for me she evoked memories of Gilda Radner in her appearance and voice. Nevertheless, I enjoyed her performance, and thought it an honest and effective one. All of us should have the opportunity to know someone like Anastasia in our lifetimes. Like many such characters in works of fiction, she proves to be too good to live. The scene at the end of the film, when Ivan sees the teenaged Katya amongst the mob at Stalin's funeral, and runs over the heads and shoulders of the crowd to prevent her from killing herself in the lethal crush -- it's absolutely devastating. How Konchalovsky finds a credible way to set the scene of their cathartic breakdown to each other to the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" symphony is really ingenious. I get misty just writing about it. Maybe it's not for everybody, but I can't praise it highly enough.