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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful, April 25, 1999
This review is from: Inner Circle [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is by far the most underrated film ever made. Granted, it might seem emotionally draining and depressing the first time you see it. However, it is still one of the most memorable pictures I have ever seen. The story is simple in a sense that everyone's motivations are clear, and that is precisely what is so good about the film; you don't have to spend hours figuring out who did what and why. The characters are not one-dimensional, as Leonard Maltin said. They are as complex as they need to be. Matlin also pointed out that the film lacks subtlety. Actually, the film is more subtle than it appears to be. Think about it. The Inner Circle is, among other things, a statement against Stalinism. Yet we never see any labor camps. We do not see anyone getting shot. The Inner Circle only tells a story of one family. After seeing what they have to go through we begin to understand the true extent of the horror that Stalin unleashed on his nation. Also, this film is truly moving. Part of the reason the movie is so successful is that it is about real people and real situations. Oh, the performances.... I do not where to begin. Tom Hulce is incredible. If I did not know him from Amadeus I would have thought he was a Russian actor. Just look at the expression on his face: He looks as if he is actually living the story. Other actors are great too. To make the long story short, if you are into Russian history and you don't mind watching powerful and thought-provoking drama once in a while than this movie is for you.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Haunting movie, January 5, 2005
This review is from: Inner Circle [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Even though this movie is very long and at times can be viewed as depressing, I think this is my all-time fave movie. Ever since the first time I saw it on the History Channel in July of 1996, coming on it during the scene where Ivan is first meeting Stalin and saying his hands are shaking because it's the first time he's stood so close to him, I've been enraptured by it, and always watched it from then on out whenever the History Channel showed it during Movies in Time. Thankfully I videotaped it in June of 1997 and got all of the quotes and commentary on the movie between commercial breaks (such as the quote from director Konchalovskiy about how he wanted to portray terror by showing the arrest of a single Jewish intellectual in lieu of mountains of dead bodies), as well as the interview and movie discussion with Daniel Pipes that took place right after the movie ended, stuff specific only to the History Channel's viewing of it. Unfortunately they no longer have Movies in Time and the video appears to be out of print, so I'm lucky to have it.
Maybe I'm biased because I'm a passionate Russophile, but this movie is extremely engrossing and emotionally compelling, as well as covering one of my favourite eras of Russian history, it's just one of those films where the three hours fly by in the blink of an eye because it's such a good movie you forget about its sheer length. The music and lighting also heavily contribute to the overall mood of terror, suspicion, fear, and poignancy. Though it's the story of Stalin's film projectionist, it could be the story of any family in the Soviet period, and the tragedy it brought to everyone involved--the arrested Gubermanns, the little girl Katya who was raised in orphanages, the overly trusting Ivan, and the idealistic Anastasiya, who saw what this personality cult was doing to her loved ones. Even though most of the movies I watch are either silents or historical dramas like this one, this movie is simply unforgettable and haunting; the powerful ending never fails to send chills down my spine, even though I know by heart what happens in the final scene, what the final words are, the final thing we see before the movie ends. Also haunting and chilling is the question it poses at the end: "Katya...How many Katyas there are still..."
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A difficult film for the typical American film viewer, December 20, 1999
This review is from: Inner Circle [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film is not entertainment. It insists that a viewer become involved within the metaphors. The use of mirrors throughout the film invites one to view the "inner circle" as much more than those people closest to Stalin. This technique asks the viewer to question how normal people, like the one in the mirror, can allow evil to dominate. Even more, it asks how a normal person can actually sanitize evil, in one's mind (One's own inner circle), into something worthy of "love" above and beyond the "inner circle" of love of family, friends, country and even self. At the same time, this film answers these questions. One must "close" the inner circle just to survive physically, mentally and emotionally. This is a deeply psychological film. What Maltin views as "one-dimensional acting" is actually the representation (done brilliantly by Hulce)of the shut-down of the psyche. Stalin's questioning, during Ivan's psychotic break after the suicide of his pregnant wife, of how he (Stalin) can trust anyone when even his inner circle lies to him, is a statement of Ivan's psychological state where he can no longer trust his own preceptions, nor himself. It is not safe. This is the ultimate in oppression.
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