''Stalin's Disciples'' ( he, ילדי סטאלין, in Hebrew Stalin's Children) is a 1986 Israeli film directed by

Nadav Levitan Nadav Levitan ( he, נדב לויתן; 21 April 1945 – 9 January 2010) was an Israeli film director, screenwriter, writer, and songwriter. He directed nine films between 1981 and 1999. His film ''Stalin's Disciples'' (in Hebrew ''Stalin's ...

that satirizes the

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

ideology of the Israeli

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Plot

The death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

in the 1950s leads to an ideological crisis on a

that identifies with

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

principles. The blind faith of three elderly shoemakers, who previously abused a young boy daring to criticize Stalin, begins to disintegrate when they learn of the Soviet leader's crimes and the manifest

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

on display at the Prague Trials.

Cast

Aharon Almog Aharon אַהֲרֹן is masculine given name alternate spelling, commonly in Israel, of ''Aaron'', prominent biblical figure in the Old Testament, "Of the Mountains", or "Mountaineer". There are other variants including "Ahron" and "Aron". Ahar ...

Ezra Dagan Ezra Dagan ( he, עזרא דגן; born April 2, 1947) is an Israeli actor noted for his acting in the Steven Spielberg film, ''Schindler's List'' (1993), where he portrayed the character Rabbi Menasha Lewartow. Filmography Dagan also acted in fi ...

* Rahel Dobson * Doron Golan * Yossi Kantz * David Rona * Shmuel Shiloh * Hugo Yarden

Critical reception

The film was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films ...

section at the

1988 Cannes Film Festival The 41st Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 23 May 1988. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Pelle erobreren'' by Bille August. The festival opened with '' Le Grand Bleu'', directed by Luc Besson and closed with ''Willow'', directed by Ron Howar ...

. Although it was both a critical and commercial failure, it was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

and was the first Israeli feature to participate in the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

Film Festivals. Yehuda (Judd) Neeman, a film researcher and director, has said that ''Stalin's Disciples'' (actually in Hebrew ''Stalin's Children'') was "the first film to look ironically at Stalinism and the kibbutz movement. . .

took characters from the actual fabric of the kibbutz he knew, including the sandal workshop with Stalin's picture on the wall, and little by little wove the pieces together. Blind worship for Stalin and unshaken belief in the Soviet Union was disintegrating on the kibbutz, partly triggered by 1952 Prague arrest and confession under torture of spying for British intelligence against Communist states by far left

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the gro ...

and

Mapam Mapam ( he, מַפָּ״ם, an acronym for , ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party. History Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatz ...

functionary Mordechai Oren of Kibbutz Mizra. At the end of the film there is the charming moment when one of the heroes looks at the sky, doesn't believe that this era has ended, looks at the moon and instead of seeing the crescent, sees the hammer and sickle. In my eyes, this is a brilliant cinematic touch and also a statement of political film, which was at its peak here in those days."Quoted in Nirit Anderman (12 January 2010)
"Nadav Levitan, 1945-2010"
''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

'' (accessed 10 November 2012).

References

External links

* {{Nadav Levitan 1986 films 1980s Hebrew-language films Films about the kibbutz Films directed by Nadav Levitan 1986 drama films Israeli satirical films Israeli drama films