Why is it that still so many Russians defend Stalin as a great leader and a hero? The Red Soul lays bare the Russian psyche of today and shows a world full of contradictions.

In the country where hardly any family escaped the hunger, fear and violence resulting from Stalin’s terror, no one has ever been convicted for the crimes committed under his regime. Is Stalin a hero who led the Soviet Union to victory? Or can he be held responsible for the millions of victims who died during his reign? Even now, more than 50 years after the death of Joseph Stalin, Russians are still deeply divided over how to deal with the memories of this painful past. In a mosaic of intimate portraits ordinary Russians, both young and old, speak openly about their traumas, rooted in a violent history. Tales of pain alternate with tales of pride. Nostalgic stories of a state flourishing under the Communist ideal contrast with painful memories of hunger, violence and betrayal. Not infrequently these conflicting views can be found in one and the same person. Gradually this intriguing film exposes how the Soviet past lives on in current generations in Russia, and thus makes its mark on the future.