Don't take this movie at face value! Comunists are so good at rewriting history and did it so many times in the past century, that no one can be sure if the events depictured in this movie are even close to what really happened. Mr. Dimitrov was such a "great revolutionary" that he fled his country in 1920 and lived most of the time until 1944 in Moscow as Stalin stooge. Regarding the trial depicted in this motion picture - the "official" version during my childhood / school years (the 70s and 80s of 20th century) was that Mr. Dimitrov learned German language during his pre-trial incarceration and legaly represented himself, but to be honest - I do not believe it! Learn the language and the German law in measly 6 months - does not sound credible.
Anyway - the history is written by the winners. The movie was created on the direct order of Bulgarian Communist Party during one of the darkest periods of it's ruling. And to support the claim in the title of my review - Mr. Dimitrov passed away in 1949 and one of the contributing factors was liver cirrhosis. Someone probably still see him as a national hero, but in my honest opinion - he sold his country (Bulgaria) to Stalin and became instrumental in establishing the so called "people's' democracy" regime - one which suffocated the country and killed (or exiled) the real Bulgarian intellectual elite.
Anyway - the history is written by the winners. The movie was created on the direct order of Bulgarian Communist Party during one of the darkest periods of it's ruling. And to support the claim in the title of my review - Mr. Dimitrov passed away in 1949 and one of the contributing factors was liver cirrhosis. Someone probably still see him as a national hero, but in my honest opinion - he sold his country (Bulgaria) to Stalin and became instrumental in establishing the so called "people's' democracy" regime - one which suffocated the country and killed (or exiled) the real Bulgarian intellectual elite.
