The rise and fall of Trotsky

Like the other reviewers, I'm somewhat ambivalent to this documentary about the rise and fall of Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary.

It's chronology is confusing. At one point, the Soviet anthem from 1944 is heard in the background, while the narrator talks about the February revolution of 1917! There are also some factual errors. For instance, the Petrograd soviet has been conflated with the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Kronstadt sailors who rebelled in 1921 were hardly the same people as in 1917, etc. All names in the documentary are spelled in German, hence "Wolkow" instead of Volkov, etc. Sure, the documentary presumably *is* German, but couldn't they change the captions in translation?

And what's the proof that Trotsky had rejected Lenin's offer to become his deputy on account of his Jewishness? I never heard that one before - annotated sources, please! It's also curious that the documentary never mentions the Fourth International, the international organization founded by Trotsky in exile. Nor is there anything about the Spanish Civil War, another formative event in the struggle between Stalinism and Trotskyism.

Still, I suppose the documentary works as a very elementary introduction to the life and times of Trotsky, on senior high school level, perhaps? Therefore I give it three stars, with the above caveats.