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“ | I'm the peacemaker and I'll f*ck up anyone who gets in my way. | „ |
~ Nikita Khrushchev |
“ | You are accused of treason and anti-Soviet behavior. The court finds you guilty, and sentence you to be shot. | „ |
~ Khrushchev reading the verdict of Lavrentiy Beria's sham trial. |
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev is the main protagonist of the 2017 political satire black comedy film The Death of Stalin, loosely based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline written by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin.
He is based on the real life head of the Moscow Party and later leader of the Soviet Union who served as one of Joseph Stalin's advisors on the Central Committee, and plots to secure his power after the dictator's unexpected death.
He was portrayed by Steve Buscemi, who also played Carl Showalter in Fargo, Mr. Pink in Resevoir Dogs, Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, Garland Greene in Con Air, Randall Boggs in Monsters, Inc., Mr. Wesley in Home on the Range, Francis E. Francis in The Boss Baby, Dorsal Dan in Spongebob Squarepants, Tony Blundetto in The Sopranos, Dwight Diddlehopper in The Simpsons, Starscream in Transformers One and Gordon Pratt in Homicide: Life on the Street.
Biography[]
Under Stalin and Arranging the funeral[]
In the USSR in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev is seen in a meeting with Stalin alongside NKVD head Lavrentiy Beria, Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, and Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov. Stalin tells Beria that Khrushchev "cracks him up" while Khrushchev is telling jokes to Malenkov and Molotov. They all have a drinking session and are forced to watch a John Wayne western with him.
As they leave, Beria notes to Khrushchev and Malenkov that Molotov is on one of the lists. Khrushchev is next seen with his wife, listing all the jokes he told tonight and taking note of whether Stalin laughed at them or not.
The next morning, Khrushchev is awakened by a phone call, informing him that Stalin had a stroke and rushes to his dacha, being the third to arrive after Beria and Malenkov. As the rest of the Committee arrive, they carry Stalin to his bed and send for a team of doctors to treat him.
After Stalin's death, Khrushchev begins plotting against Beria, and the two compete for the support of Stalin's children, Svetlana and Vasiliy. Khrushchev also begins introducing several reforms, such as releasing political prisoners and restoring the church, but Beria takes credit for them in order to gain public approval.
Khrushchev is put in charge of organizing Stalin's funeral. There, he organizes the proceedings and meets Maria Yudina, a pianist whose work Stalin enjoyed but also an opponent of the Soviet regime. Yudina also gave piano lessons to Khrushchev's niece, and he hired her to play the music at the funeral. Beria would then threaten Khrushchev with the knowledge of his connection to Maria.
Plotting against Beria[]
Khrushchev later learns that the NKVD has now replaced the Red Army as security, and the borders to Moscow have been closed. Khrushchev discreetly orders the borders to be reopened to spark a conflict with the NKVD and tarnish Beria's reputation. The resulting flood of people provokes the NKVD into firing on the crowd, killing around 1,500 people. Most of the Committee, including Khrushchev, vote to have random NKVD officers be set up as scapegoats for the massacre, to which Beria angrily dissents for fear that it'll harm his reputation. Beria then threatens all the other Committee members with their involvement in Stalin's purges.
Khrushchev is next seen meeting with Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov, head of the Red Army. Khrushchev tells Zhukov that he wants to overthrow Beria, and the Field Marshal enthusiastically agrees to assist in the coup, irate over Beria replacing the army with the NKVD, though on the condition that it happens the day after Stalin's funeral, and if Khrushchev can get the rest of the Committee on his side. Khrushchev then approaches the other committe members with the coup idea, telling them each individually that the rest have agreed to get them all on board. Malenkov is the only member Khrushchev is unable to convince.
With almost all of the Committee at his side, Khrushchev gives Zhukov the green light. During a meeting the day after Stalin's funeral, Khrushchev accuses Beria of anti-Soviet behavior, and signals Zhukov to storm the building. As the army reclaims its posts from the NKVD, Zhukov barges into the meeting room and arrests Beria.
Khrushchev attempts to convince Malenkov to sign Beria's death warrant, but the acting General Secretary refuses. Khrushchev then tells Malenkov of the time when one political prisoner asked Beria to take care of his elderly mother, and Beria instead strangled her to death right in front of him. This convinces Malenkov to sign the death warrant.
Beria is then taken to an emergancy trial inside of a barn, where Khrushchev accuses him of conspiracy with foreign powers and over 300 charges of rape, pedophilia, and sexual harassment, and immediately declares him guilty, sentencing him to be shot. Khrushchev and his conspirators then take Beria's corpse outside, and immolate him. When Svetlana appears, she says she didn't expect it to be him to seize power. Khrushchev then sends her to Soviet-occupied Vienna, where he tells her she will be safe, but keeps Vasiliy in Russia. He then talks with Lazar Kaganovich, and the two agree that Malenkov is too weak to lead.
In the final scene of the movie, Khrushchev is seen with his wife attending Maria's soloist performance. The subtitles state thar Khrushchev would overthrow the rest of the Committee and instill himself as the new leader of the Soviet Union, until he is deposed by Leonid Brezhnev in 1964, who is seen eyeing Khrushchev from his seat.
Trivia[]
- The real Nikita Khrushchev really did use the jokes he told Stalin as a strategy to keep himself alive.
- Nikita Khrushchev's son Sergei (who was still alive at that time), who worked as a teacher at Brown University for a long time, did not appreciate this film, considering it offensive (just like the Russian government and most of Russian citizens) saying the following. "This is not an accident, but a component of the anti-Russian hysteria that is currently raging in the United States and England. By showing the Soviet leadership as a bunch of fools and bandits, they draw a parallel with present-day Russia".