Is Moi drug Ivan Lapshin primarily about Stalin and the “Great Terror”?
Of course, when you make a film about Ivan Lapshin at this time, you are also including things that refer, of course, to Stalin. And, of course, later also to Beria. But on the whole we simply wanted to show the times. And we wanted to avoid this vulgar way of stating everything so clearly. Such a vulgarity would be a discussion in the film about Stalin, or even a way of behavior. We wanted to avoid all these clichs, and we wanted instead to dive deep into the lives of the people. Of course, they talk about certain things. For example, they talk about the death, the suicide, of Mayakovsky. But this is always in the background of the film. Does Moi drug Ivan Lapshin offer the viewer any hope for the future? They also talk about how things will look in 1937. Although it’s quite clear that these people are not going to see the year 1937. And they say they are going to plant a garden, too. And the answer to that is someone who says: what are you talking about? You know that you are not abl