STAR MEDIA
Aleksandr Domogarov
Mikhail Porechenkov
Yekaterina Vilkova
Pavel Trubiner
Written by Igor Ter-Karapetov
Production director: Sergei Ginzburg
Score by Gleb Matveichuk
and Andrei Komissarov
First cameraman: Vasya Sikachinskiy
Art director: Yuri Konstantinov
Costume designers: Zhanna
Lanina, Kseniya Mavrina
Make-up by Anastasiya Ramlya
Casting by Yekaterina
Struchkova, Anastasiya Lenova
Edited by Olga
Proshkina, Irina Michurina
Sound producer: Leonid Shushakov
Post-production
producer: Artyom Yeliseev
Produced by Andrei Anokhin, Vlad Ryashin
Kill Stalin
Good day, hello.
Oh, a Buick, so we’re
taking the car, then, great.
Last time they drove me
in a car from the theater
to the set with Seva Pudovkin.
There’s our car.
Oh, right. Thanks.
Which one of his films were you in?
I’ve seen every Pudovkin movie.
What… what does it matter, young man?
Don’t you trust my words?
It’s just that I didn’t recognize you.
I don’t recognize myself,
young man, what a terrible war.
Do you know how thin I’ve gotten?
I had to change my entire wardrobe,
had it not been for the
theater’s wardrobe department…
This is Sumbatov-Yuzhin’s
coat, by the way.
Well, this is war,
everything for the front lines
and everything for the victory.
Wow, Sumbatov himself, incredible.
Please.
Thank you.
Who is that Sumbatov Eugene?
He’s a great actor, you redneck!
Come on, get in.
Wake up, Comrade Captain.
Sit down. I got a bit drowsy.
Well, what do you got?
Photos from every angle, full profile.
Comrade Captain, I’ve
brought some with me.
Major Aronov, armor crewman.
His regiment is being
reformed in Ramenskoye.
He served with Samokhvalov.
Get him in here.
Hello, Comrade State Security Captain.
Come up to the table, Comrade Major.
Do you know this man?
This is Captain Samokhvalov,
we served together.
Are you sure?
Yes, sir.
Comrade Captain, we brought
an actor by the name of
Nikolai Sergeevich Ordyntsev,
Samokhvalov was married to his daughter.
Get him in here.
Comrade Major, please
wait in the hallway.
Yes, sir.
– Comrade Ordyntsev.
– Yes?
– Come in, please.
– Thank you.
My god, what a brilliant meeting!
Gentlemen officers…
I mean, comrades, of course.
Sit down.
Sure, yeah.
Do you know this man?
Of course I do, it’s my
former son-in-law Sergei.
You know, I always knew
he would end up like this.
Like what?
Well, all this.
So the one in these pictures
is Sergei Samokhvalov?
Yes, that is certain.
I know, I told my daughter, “Luda…”
Nikolai Sergeevich, wait
in the hallway, please.
Sure, yes, sir.
What do you think?
This is a red herring.
They can’t all be in on this, can they?
Where’s your friend Novitsky?
He got off on Petrovskiye Linii St.,
said he wanted to visit
some friend of his.
A friend? I didn’t know
he had friends in Moscow.
Hello, comrades.
Well, have you found anything?
I even brought it here.
Brought what here?
The body.
Captain Samokhalov’s.
Come on, come on, come
on, don’t be nervous.
Oh, hey, Zhenya, the
boss is waiting for you.
What’s it about?
This Samokhvalov thing is weird as hell.
Dronov brought the body of that officer
who was killed in Bogorodsk a week ago.
Well, turns out it was Samokhalov.
The doctor recognized
him from the case record.
Now that’s news.
Who do we trust now?
Comrades, as I understand,
you’re talking about a spy,
someone who’s disguised
himself, so to speak?
And?
I have something to say about this.
Let’s go.
Thank you.
What time is it?
22:15
My girls have been alone
for almost 24 hours now.
We’re listening, Nikolai Sergeevich.
One minute, please. Look at my cheek.
Can you see it?
Get to the point.
I’m very close to it, trust me.
In ’29 our theater
was on tour in Germany.
Schiller’s Fiesco, I
was playing the Moor.
I fell down a hatch in the scene floor,
a nail cut my cheek open, like this.
My career was done for, comrades.
So?
But thankfully we found
a great doctor in Berlin.
His name was weird, Jacques Joseph.
And he operated on me, and after that,
you see, there’s practically
nothing left of the scar.
So what?
Wait. So you’re saying
that that Jacques Joseph
could make anyone look like
Samokhvalov with surgery?
I’ve seen what he does. I’m
telling you, he’s a genius.
Well, I don’t think he could make
absolutely anyone be like him.
I mean, there’s height, hair
color, voice, mannerisms…
But I think he could
have changed the face.
What do you say?
We’re lucky. We have to
go arrest Samokhvalov.
Comrade Captain, permission to do it.
Be quick.
Allow me. And one more thing.
In Germany, in the clinic,
I saw small scars on
the patients’ faces.
Here, here, and here, under the chin.
If you look at the face closely…
Thank you, Nikolai Sergeevich,
you’ve helped a lot.
Thank you.
My pleasure, always at your service.
Thank you. Sechin.
I have something to ask you.
It’s curfew, and of course we’re
going to stay until morning,
but there’s a woman, her
girls are alone at home.
Got you. Drive Petrova
home when the alert is over.
Yes, sir.
Could I pour some tea for
Nikolai Sergeevich, too?
Make some tea for Nikolai Sergeevich.
Nikolai Sergeevich, come with me.
Yes, of course.
Once again, thanks a lot.
Can you see? A genius!
I can’t see anything.
Nikolai Sergeevich…
A genius, I tell you!
And the main thing, his name was so weird…
There are some traces of surgery.
The shirt.
Good job.
They even imitated the
scars from the surgery.
Yeah, that damn Jew, Dr Jacques,
cut me all over the place.
So you admit that you’re
not Sergei Samokhvalov?
I’m Reiner Lindshof, Abwehr Lieutenant.
How were you brought here?
This man makes me nervous.
If you’re going to torture me some more,
I think I’ll keep silent.
And if this man leaves,
are you going to talk?
Yes.
Go. Your mission?
Arrive to the 33rd Brigade placement.
Pretend to be Captain Sergei Samokhalov.
On the morning of November 7,
when the column gets near the Red Square,
I have to kill the crew.
The crew’s ammunition is
supposed to be taken away,
so I have to hide a gun
in the tank beforehand.
Go on!
After killing the crew, I
have to imitate a malfunction,
fall back from the column,
readjust the radio and
wait for Ponomarenko and his people.
Where exactly?
Next to Mayakovskaya Metro station.
How is the assassination
attempt going to be carried out?
I don’t know that.
Well, any thoughts?
Yes.
We replace the crew with our people,
imitate a malfunction.
Adjust the radio to the frequency
given to us by the agent and
wait for the saboteurs’ broadcast.
As soon as they appear,
we eliminate the group.
In what way is the attempt
going to take place?
We don’t know that yet.
The saboteurs may have
prepared a potent shell
for the tank’s main gun,
which will be delivered to it.
There are guards on every
street next to the Red Square.
Any movement will be found out.
I suppose the group is
going to move underground.
They’ll get to the tank
through the bottom hatch.
And you’re in there.
Yes, sir.
Well, that’s a good plant.
What about agent Rosa, any development?
Not yet. Only if we manage
to take Ponomarenko alive.
Eliminate them all!
The group will be eliminated,
Comrade Senior Major.
Twelve hours left until the parade,
the crews are in their barracks.
Senior Lieutenant
Novitsky, Lieutenant Sechin
and two more men, go the
brigade’s position immediately.
Lieutenant Dronov and I are
going to be around Dzerzhinsky St.
To attack the group from behind.
Get to it.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Comrade Berezhnoy, stay.
Ivan, don’t let Hess stay
alive under any circumstances!
Comrade Senior Major, we risk
letting a very experienced
and dangerous agent stay alive.
Are you sure Hess is
going to give him up?
And about the Kiev fiasco…
yeah, you could tell that.
Got it. Permission to go?
Go.
Well, Zhenya, is it ready?
Yeah.
Are you going to report?
Yeah, we need to report.
Come on, get in.
Yes, sir. Comrade Captain.
Everyone, to your cars!
Comrade Captain.
Well, I wanted to wish you luck.
I have a feeling that they
won’t get away this time.
They won’t.
Here you go.
Can I have a word?
Gena Sechin found
something about Polina.
About who she really is.
Check your weapons.
There’s a Moscow address.
Yeah, I saw it.
She could be there.
Just talk to her before, you know…
Not everything in life is what it seems.
Go already.
All right, Leonov.
Citizen Pavlova, open up!
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon.
What do you want, comrade?
Serafima Andreevna, I have to see Olga.
What Olga? You’re mistaken.
There’s no Olga here.
Serafima Andreevna,
you can’t lie at all.
I need to see Olga.
Come on.
You can’t lie at all,
Serafima Andreevna.
Go away. Go away, please!
You can’t do this.
Let him through, Aunt Sima.
Who is this, Olga?
This is a man I’ve crossed terribly.
– Do you want a cup of tea?
– No, thanks.
– I can explain everything.
– Don’t.
You’re Olga Pavlova,
daughter of General Pavlov,
Air Defense Commander
of the Kiev District.
Yes.
Your father was executed on June 5, 1941
as an enemy of the people and a spy.
Yes.
You were arrested as
an accomplice, right?
– Yes.
– Go on.
When the Germans came,
some of us were let go,
and they got me into a
train and took me to Poland.
As I found later, to an agent
school of Abwehr’s Wally II,
they were sure that I was
going to work with them.
How could it be, Olga?
How could it be?
– Wait, Aunt.
– Go on.
I was taken to the office of
the school’s headmaster Seliger.
Olga Pavlova, your father was executed,
and you were arrested.
Yes.
Come on, have some.
I don’t want to.
Also. Why did you run to the Russians?
Stalin is going to
shoot you or arrest you.
And what are you going to do?
Us? We will help you.
We help you move to Moscow,
to old friend Konstantin Letyagin,
you have to live under name of your friend
Polina Serebryakova.
You know everything…
What if Polina shows up?
She won’t show up.
Polina Serebryakov is saboteur,
is arrested on occupied territory.
Work for guerrillas.
Right now is in Poland.
Concentration camp Kribling.
Bitte.
I was scared, and that was
what Seliger was betting on.
He said I had to sign
a cooperation agreement.
I signed it.
I just don’t know why they needed me.
So that we find him.
It was part of his plan.
Is that it?
I was really scared then.
I remember how they took my father.
”Traitor,” “traitor’s daughter…”
And he was never a traitor.
I know.
Before the war I worked in Kiev.
I managed to recruit a resident
agent from German intelligence,
and Hess was that resident.
He would always lie to me, all the
information that came from him was false.
Your father was never a
traitor, he was an honest man.
I knew. I’ve always known that.
He never signed anything,
never gave anyone up, no matter what.
Sit down, hands on the table. Sit down!
Search the apartment.
Comrades, the Captain has
nothing to do with this,
– I’ll explain everything.
– Sit down!
Yeah, Novitsky was right.
Polina Serebryakova.
She couldn’t have.
Who, then?
Where’s your friend Novitsky?
He got off on Petrovskiye Linii St.,
said he wanted to visit some friend of his.
Don’t worry, citizen Pavlova,
we’ll come back to you yet.
So, papers in the name
of Polina Serebryakova…
Didn’t we confiscate those?
How come you have them?
No answer, right?
Captain, when did you start
collaborating with the Germans?
Back in Kiev?
– You’re out of your mind.
– Sit down!
Put your gun away, Dronov.
Oh, Ivan, Ivan.
I would have believed
that it was anyone but you.
Comrade Senior Major, we
found this in the kitchen.
What’s this?
I don’t know, it’s not mine.
Notebooks with codes, keys.
Well, Captain…
or what is your name, agent Rosa?
It all makes sense now,
the failure in Kiev,
all the other failures.
We can explain it all now.
The facts are a stubborn thing, Ivan.
You’re a professional, you
understand that all this is over.
But if you’re not thinking
about yourself, think about her.
I get it.
Take them to the HQ.
Get up!
Everyone out.
Search the place carefully.
Yes, sir.
Come on!
Why are you handling
me like a bear, huh?
We should go by Petrovskiye
Linii St., faster that way.
Did Novitsky come to visit you?
Yeah, he brought some groceries and...
Shut up!
Halt! What are you, mad?
Why? They’d get torn to pieces anyway.
Come on, go!
Come on, citizen.
Go.
Comrade Senior Major,
they ran away! Alarm!
How could that have happened, huh?
How could it happen?
Tighten the security on the
streets next to the Red Square.
Yes, sir.
I’m going to the HQ.
They screwed it all up, everything.
Come on.
What do we do now?
I don’t know.
Where are we going?
Left.
I know this place.
There’s a lot of escape routes,
so it's going to be easy to escape.
Sit down, get some rest.
Can you explain this to me?
Novitsky planted the
encoded notebooks on you
and gave your address to Prokhorov.
What for?
Good question.
To get me arrested as an Abwehr agent.
The bastard, I trust
him like I trust myself,
and he played me like a
little boy from the beginning.
He killed his own people, many times.
He came up with a biography for himself,
with a rough patch in it,
to make it seem more real.
And no one noticed anything?
Well, Dronov did.
No, he didn’t notice anything,
just sensed something,
and I didn’t.
The picture is starting
to come together now.
You know, during all
the important moments,
he’d go slow, slow, slow…
expecting a reaction from us.
Maybe you’re wrong.
As it stands now,
there’s two possibilities.
Either I’m the agent or he is.
To your cars!
Go, go, go!
I planted the gun here.
Good. Go!
Quiet, quiet, quiet.
Well, Prokhorov isn’t
going to do anything,
and when he finally gets
it, it’ll be too late.
What do we do?
You go to the HQ.
You and I are wanted,
so they’ll take you straight to him,
and once there you’ll just have
to tell him everything you know.
All right.
I’m ready.
You’re scared.
I know.
But we don’t have a choice.
Battle-hardened brave infantrymen,
heroes of the Great Patriotic War!
The main regiments of the armed workers,
ready to fight for their
hometowns till the last drop.
Is there really going to be a parade?
They’re saying there is.
Well, that means everything’s good!
Glory to the heroic artillerymen who
bravely fight the fascist hordes!
You’re bright, Lieutenant,
we need people like you.
Do you want to work with me?
How did you know about the kirchen?
Read it in a book.
You shouldn’t have saved
me, Comrade Captain.
Read this.
There’s information
about Polina Serebryakova,
about who she really is.
Halt, show me your pass!
I need Senior Major Prokhorov.
Oh yeah, what else do you mean?
Look, my name is Olga Pavlova,
half of Moscow is looking for me.
I’m just going to turn
around and leave, okay?
Halt!
Follow me.
To the right.
Sidorov, call the guard commander.
Guard commander to Post Three.
It’s time!
All right, got it.
Break!
We have a malfunction
in the control system,
we’re starting to fix it.
You have twenty minutes,
then you fall back in line.
Affirmative, over and out.
Readjust the radio.
Done.
He’s in the tank, they
faked a malfunction.
Go on air.
Ghost, Ghost, 120 meters forward,
manhole across the bookstore.
Coordinates 13 15 28. Do you copy?
Copy that.
You two go forward, put the
shell in the middle, I’ll go last.
Let’s go.
120 meters forward, to
the bookstore manhole.
What are you doing, Zhenya?
You bastard!
You have no idea.
The brigade confirms that 141 fell behind
because of a malfunction.
Block him, and send all
your men there right now!
Yes, sir.
Berezhnoy said they’d move underground.
Comrade Senior Major, maybe we should?..
I don’t care!
The important thing is that the tank
doesn’t make it to the Red Square.
Get to work.
Yes, sir.
What about Ivan? He’s alone out there.
Guard commander.
– Yes, sir.
– Come here.
Yes, sir.
Take citizen Pavlova to her cell.
Yes, sir. Let’s go.
Damn it.
Martin!
Ready.
Yes. Get the present.
Martin!
Shit.
Well, we’ve finally met.
25! 25! What the hell are you doing,
get back to your position immediately!
Get back in line now!
Yes, sir, getting back in line.
What did you do?
Carry out your order.
Well, what now?
The tank is at the end of the street.
Novitsky isn’t inside.
I’m looking for him in the
alleys, you look in the tunnels.
Two hundred tanks conclude the parade.
Two hundred steel fortresses,
ready to bring death
to the fascist Hydra.
Under the victorious banner of Lenin,
led by Stalin, the Soviet
people and its Red Army
will crush and…
How strange, a German
intelligence officer
who has an Order of the Red Star.
It’s my order and I’ve earned it.
Nice codename, Rosa.
Did you come up with it yourself?
Yes, I’ve loved the
flower since I was a kid.
Where’s Hess?
– Dead.
– Did you kill him?
No, Dronov.
That little bastard.
I knew he worked for Beria.
Too bad you didn’t
manage to talk to Martin.
Not with him, but we’re going
to have a long talk with you.
Are you sure that I’m
going to make I to the cell?
No, I’m not.
Are you sure about yourself?
I’m not sure.
That’s the thing, Ivan.
We both lost, and you know what?
I fell sorry for you, I really do.
Look at you, you’re tired.
It was a great game, wasn’t it?
Stop!
I stopped. What are you going to do?
Kill me, maybe?
Huh? Bastard!
The saboteur group is
completely destroyed.
The agent has worked for a
long time behind our lines,
we’re taking his statement right now.
Comrades colleagues!
Were they supposed to shoot this?
Yes, sir, Comrade Stalin.
This is a high-impact projectile,
the entire superstructure of
the Mausoleum would be destroyed.
You saved me again.
Comrade Stalin, it was a
collaboration of all our
special services and branches.
Don’t lie, Lavrentiy.
I know more than just
what you report to me,
little Napoleon. Do
you have any requests?
Negative, Comrade Stalin.
Yes, sir, Comrade Stalin.
Speak, Comrade Berezhnoy.
I ask you to dismiss the charges of treason
from Olga Nikolaevna Pavlova.
He was a great help in
carrying out the operation.
Lavrentiy, did you hear that?
Yes, sir, Comrade Stalin.
Thank you all again, comrades.
He could remember it all, you know.
I don’t give a rat’s ass about
your fears, Comrade Senior Major.
I don’t want to leave.
I won’t write you because
I want to forget you.
And I want the others
to forget you, too.
I understand.
There’s a war going on.
Should something happen to me,
there would be no one to protect you.
Why? I don’t want to lose you.
You need to be as far
from Moscow as possible.
All right, go.
The End
