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Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
STALIN'S WIFE
Joseph Stalin was a childhood hero of Nadezhda Alliluyev, the youngest
daughter of a Russian revolutionary couple who befriended Stalin as a young
man. (The Alliluyevs were the family Stalin never had - he was an only child
who was beaten by his father.) According to family lore, Stalin saved
three-year-old Nadezhda from drowning in the ocean. Years later, he married
her; she was just 16 and he 39.
Using newly found archival documents coupled with interviews of family
members, friends and historians, director Slava Tsukerman challenges viewers
to consider unsolved mysteries as he presents contradictory accounts of
events and little known facts about Nadezhda. Did Stalin propose to her
after raping her in a private train car with her family nearby? Or was
theirs an intimate love affair? Years later, when found soaked in blood in
the bed she and Stalin shared, had Nadezhda committed suicide, or had Stalin
killed her?
Opinions are divided on both accounts. Relatives who cite an alleged suicide
note left with Nadezhda's sister, Anna, say the young wife was unhappy with
her husband's behavior towards both her and the USSR following his rise to
power. But others question how Nadezhda
could have shot herself in the left temple when she was right-handed. Some
close to the family report that at her coffin, Stalin's entire body shook as
he sobbed and ambiguously said, "She left as an enemy."
Stalin's Wife opens with the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller, with
panning shots of Moscow cloaked in darkness and a soundtrack of
staccato-like music. While the loud, fast-paced revolutionary music playing
in the background for much of the film is sometimes distracting, this
compelling documentary is both thought-provoking and surprising in its
details. Deborah Lynn Blumberg
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