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Stalin gets the Stone treatment
Published: 11 January, 2010, 13:30
Edited: 18 January, 2010, 07:03
TAGS: Movies, Russia, History, USA
The director of controversial political biopics “JFK”, “Nixon” and “W”, American Oscar-winner Oliver Stone has revealed his attitude towards Stalin and Hitler.
Stone told reporters at the Television Critics Association's press tour that such figures as Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and McCarthy “have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Stone was quoted as saying “Stalin has a complete other story.”
“Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can't judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good’. Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it’s been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect…”
The director, who is currently working on the highly-anticipated documentary series “Secret History of America”, also complained that “people in America don't know the connection between WWI and WWII.”
“I've been able to walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes to understand their point of view. We are going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions; go into the funding of the Nazi party; how many American corporations were involved, from GM through to IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated.”
The premiere of his “Secret History of America”, which centers on some of the lesser–known moments in American history, is scheduled for mid 2010.
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2 comments
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Dear Sarah: Lou is correct, "The Inner Circle" is outstanding film in the the treatise of Stalin as a man and leader of the Soviet Union at the time, and a very well made film, since filmmakers did their homework on that time period.. Fortunately, I have copy in my VHS library. I compel you to re-visit your view on the war in Eastern Europe, Russia is, was, and will always be a land power. Given its history from Princess Catherine Great, to the present. Platoon is just that, a movie, don't base your view of history in Hollywood films, they make films to make money, the real history is left as an after-thought. You are correct, the battles of Kursk, Stalingrad, and Berlin were enormous struggles by battle-hardened, brave and detemined Russia troops on the Russian homeland, and millions died as result on both sides. I have read and studied the political and tactical aspects of each one. However, I cannot let the brutality and scale of the Pacific War against the Japanese Empire pass. Russia did not have a World Class NAVY to cope with an enemy as Japan on the scale of the PACIFIC OCEAN. The US NAVY did the job, over thousands of miles of open ocean and in the jungles of the South Pacific, against a well-trained, disciplined, dug-in determined enemy that gave no quarter, and willing to commit suicide to win, over one-fouth of earth's surface. The only major industrial power to take on Japan was The United States and WIN. Moreover, recall that much of the supplies and war material came from the United States to Murmansk via the Murmansk Express Convoys. Regards, Thomas
Lou Thank you for the reference. But I may have missed my initial comment. I saw ads to Oliver Stone’s Hugo doc but that nothing but I saw John Pliger’s brilliant work about Hugo Chavez and has many docs about the U.S against democracy around the world. Oliver Stone is the product of Hollywood. He has never done anything that goes the scale which challenge the U.S viewers. Perhaps, this is the reasons he has not touched the most significant battles of the 20th centuries such as war on Stalingrad, the battle of Kursk, and siege of Leningrad. Neither Staley Kubrick nor Oliver Stone could touch the Eastern Front because it was the Cold War and Hollywood will allow the cinematic representations of the Eastern Front. 35 Million people dead in the East Front and but Hollywood has never ventured on full cinematic representations of the Eastern Front even though archives to the actual killing fields were and are easily obtainable in the Western media archives. Stone's Hugo Chavez does not bit. Americans have been killing weaker brown skinned people since the end of WWII and they have never won battles of the magnitude of Kursk, Stalingrad and they did not bring about the fall of Berlin [aerial bombing never wins a war]. And that is the real reason Stone was allowed to make Platoon but he could not think making a film about the battle for Stalingrad [Enemies at the Gates is a joke! I recently saw a great German film about Stalingrad]. I bought a copy but the film is also on You Tube. It is worth the watch. Then go back and see Hollywood's Enemies at the Gates and notice the difference.
Oliver Stone tells the viewers more about Oliver Stone in his films than about his subject matter. What is propaganda anyway? Usually the subjects of these films are dead anyway and can't defend themselves..