Russian director Vladimir Bortko has revealed why he is moving forward with a historical drama about Joseph Stalin, telling journalists from the Vesti news service that the script has existed for 15 years but conditions were not right to make it in 2011.
Bortko said that back then it would have been nearly impossible to find investors willing to finance such a project. He added that the situation has since changed completely, with Stalin’s image now sometimes seen as an example of tough but unavoidable decision-making.
The screenplay itself has not been altered since it was written, Bortko said. He hopes audiences will find it interesting to compare how Stalin was judged in the past with how he is viewed today, noting that his own assessment has never changed.
Bortko stressed that 70 years on, Stalin remains a subject of active debate rather than a purely historical figure, and that any conversation about him is essentially a conversation about Russia’s fate.
The director said he is not seeking to glorify Stalin or justify him, but to encourage a sober, unbiased look at the past. He argued that until society can discuss such difficult topics calmly, it will not be able to understand its own history.
