Le Rideau de fer

The Iron Curtain, as the title suggests, is a Cold War and propagandistic film, which I wouldn't blame it for so much as the fact that it is hopelessly naive in terms of its script and downright ordinary in terms of its execution. If someone presented me with a similar story today, not only would I unhesitatingly throw the film in the trash, but I would also be genuinely angry that someone is making a fool of me. The main character steals documents of the highest secrecy from the Soviet Embassy and desperately tries to impose them on no one less than the Minister of Justice, and he even turns to the press. When he fails, he resorts to the safety of his apartment, where KGB agents visit him, banging on the door, begging and persuading him to finally open the door and explain the regrettable mistake. As a comedy, it would work wonderfully, but as a supposedly serious drama, it falls embarrassingly short. A mitigating circumstance, however, is the year of production - in 1948, there simply wasn't the proper distance from the subject. The film is indeed based on a real event, but the creators adapted this event to their own image and the plot on the screen has practically nothing to do with reality. Overall impression: 30%. (22/06/2010)