L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

43%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 14

Coming soon

Release date: Jan 31, 2003

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Movie Info

In April 1928, twenty years before the founding of Israel, Joseph Stalin created the world's first Jewish homeland in the Soviet Union, in a barren stretch of land on Siberia's Far Eastern border. Although conceived as a solution to the 'Jewish problem,' The Jewish Autonomous Region (or J.A.R.), became a center for Yiddish culture and tradition, and was the first place in the world where Yiddish culture thrived. The J.A.R. attracted Jewish settlers from across the Soviet Union and even as far away as the United States, Argentina, and Palestine. By 1948 the Jewish population had peaked at 45,000 (roughly one-quarter of the region's total demographics). The J.A.R. was home to Yiddish schools, theaters, publications and synagogues.Filmed on location in Birobidzhan, capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region, L'CHAYIM, COMRADE STALIN! features interviews with pioneer settlers and current residents, plus footage never before seen outside Russia (as well as the rare propaganda film Seekers of Happiness). This beautifully directed and startling work offers a fascinating glimpse into the most intriguing chapter in 20th century Jewish and Russian histories. -- © Cinema Guild

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By:

Yale Strom
Written By:

Elizabeth Schwartz
In Theaters:

Jan 31, 2003 wide
Runtime:

89 minutes
Studio:

Cinema Guild

Cast

Ron Perlman
as Narrator

Critic Reviews for L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (8)

Energetic and informative, albeit more than a little haphazard.

Mar 6, 2003 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic
Talking heads and shots of the grim landscape can get awfully tiresome.

Jan 31, 2003 | Rating: 2/4

V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic
A fertile concept vanishes behind confused, overwrought style.

Jan 30, 2003 | Rating: 2/5

Dave Kehr
New York Times
Top Critic
Like Strom's earlier docs, L'Chayim Comrade Stalin is best appreciated as an exercise in creative ethnography.

Jan 28, 2003

J. Hoberman
Village Voice
Top Critic
We are fortunate enough to see films like L'chayim Comrade Stalin, where the last brilliant sparks shine most astonishingly

Nov 3, 2005 | Rating: '2.5' | Full Review…

Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com
Replete with surprises, twists and thought-provoking anecdotes.

Mar 14, 2003 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine
The smarter film would have really put its beliefs through the wringer; Strom's movie contents itself with the surface and as such remains a wan, Xeroxed filmic hand-out of a potentially interesting historical sub-chapter.

Mar 10, 2003 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Brent Simon
Entertainment Today
The story of the JAR can be read as tragedy, but the exuberant Strom ... is by artistic temperament an optimist.

Mar 6, 2003

Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
Like the swamps on which the Siberian town Birobidzhan was built, Yale Strom's latest documentary L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin! is mired in mediocrity.

Feb 13, 2003 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…

Elias Savada
Nitrate Online
Like the Jewish Autonomous Region itself, it is stillborn and empty.

Feb 12, 2003 | Rating: 2.5/5

Donald J. Levit
Film Threat
Strom, whether hamstrung by a lack of material or an inability to understand structure, delivers a slapdash work that is weak on a number of fronts.

Feb 12, 2003 | Full Review…

Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International
Can't overcome its inherent blandness.

Feb 10, 2003 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews