The Fall of Berlin (1949)

Падение Берлина

A steelworker goes from his factory to the storming of the Reichstag, in the most famous film of the Stalin cult.

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Year
1949
Director
Mikheil Chiaureli
Starring
Boris Andreyev, Marina Kovalyova, Mikheil Gelovani, Vladimir Savelyev
Genre
War, History
Running time
2 h 26 min · 2 parts
Language
Russian, English subtitles
Studio
Mosfilm

About the film

Alexei Ivanov is a record-breaking steelworker in love with a schoolteacher, Natasha. When Germany invades he goes to war, and the film follows him through every major event of the conflict, from the parade on Red Square in November 1941 to the Red Banner over the Reichstag.

Alongside Alexei's story, the film shows the leaders: Hitler in his bunker, Churchill and Roosevelt, and above all Stalin, presented as a wise and kindly genius who personally guides the victory.

Made for Stalin's 70th birthday, The Fall of Berlin is today watched as a historical document: a lavish colour epic that shows exactly how the Stalin cult wanted the war to be remembered. After 1956 it was quietly withdrawn from Soviet screens.

Did you know?

  • It was produced for Joseph Stalin's 70th birthday in December 1949.
  • The music is by Dmitri Shostakovich.
  • Stalin is played by Mikheil Gelovani, who played him in many films of the period.

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