The Gift to Stalin

In this humanist historical drama, the grown-up Sashka thinks back on the summer of 1949, when as a boy he was saved from certain death on the way to a gulag by a group of good-hearted Kazakhs. The film’s title refers to the fact that the Soviet dictator Stalin turned 70 that summer, and every child was encouraged to give him a gift. This innocent-looking version of subtle propaganda stands in stark contrast to the picture director Abdrashov paints of oppression and abuse of power from both the Soviet military and local Kazakh police, which together turn the film into an emotional experience.
Abdrashov shows how different cultures and religions – here a Jewish boy, Moslem men and Russian-Orthodox Christians – functioned together locally during the Soviet era, while the various beliefs and local colours were subjected to violent oppression from central authorities. The film is told through extended flashbacks with the grown-up Sashka’s highly emotional voice-over, while an exquisite flute music and a tender use of string instruments lends the film a nostalgic and melancholy soundscape. Abdrashov also shows us the Kazakh steppes in all their glorious and pastoral power, lending the film an epic visual form. lab