Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is like watching a screen version of a really long and dense Russian novel, replete with the endless angst and confusing names. Except, unlike Russian literature, there is very little here to reward the viewer's patience. To be honest, I am not even fully sure what the plot of this movie is, because the subtitles are very poorly translated and leave non-Russian speakers in the dark when it comes to most of the details. Lenin has established a government commission to oversee the protection of the riches seized from the toppled monarch, but traitors within the commission are either trying to steal them for themselves, or smuggle them abroad to sell to foreign governments. To add to the confusion, characters drop in and out with almost no introduction, and the audience is expected to keep track of all of them. Director Grigori Kromanov also switches from color to black and white at random intervals with no warning, the reasoning for which is never made apparent. Kromanov is most famous for his trippy science fiction detective mystery The Dead Mountaineer Hotel, which is an amazing and mind-bending film, but Diamonds for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat does not satisfy on any level. And despite being billed as a mystery, there is little, if any, mystery in here. There are some interesting musings on nationalism and the role of the individual in society, but it is not particularly original or thought-provoking. What struck me most, though, was how dead the film felt. It is completely devoid of any emotional involvement, and I felt as if I were watching the drama through a smoky glass. This is not even worth watching as a historical curio, because it does nothing that is very exciting on an aesthetic level, either. Had I not bought the subtitled DVD, I would not have finished this one.
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