Summary: This controversial documentary created a storm in Russia by taking off the cloak from a violent, repressive era of Soviet history. Filmmaker Semyon Aranovich found the last surviving personal bodyguard of Josef Stalin, who began working for him in the 1930s. I WAS STALIN S BODYGUARD weaves together unprecedented, first-hand testimony with rare footage, including Stalin's home movies. What emerges is a singular portrait of a violent and complex era during which Stalin consolidated his power through brutal repression, yet led the Soviet Union to victory in World War II.