Child 44 (2015)
Country: CZ/GB/US/RUS
Technical: col/2.35:1. 137m
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Vincent Cassel
Synopsis:
Orphaned by Stalin's war on the kulaks, made a hero by the Great Patriotic War, Leo Demidov becomes a favoured officer of the MGB secret police. However, when a child killer strikes someone close to him, his childhood experiences return to torment him. Learning that there is no such thing as murder in Uncle Joe's paradise, he must also choose whether to stand by his wife when she is accused of subversion. Banished to a distant industrial province, he again comes across evidence of the killer's activity and determines to pursue an investigation.
Review:
Part of the problem with Espinosa's gruelling exposé of Soviet implacability (even when rehabilitated, Demidov must acknowledge that the killer was a victim of Nazi manipulation), is its epic scale (huge international cast, multi-stranded storyline, Ridley Scott's name on the roster of producers). In essence the film is about the cost of retaining your humanity in a totalitarian régime, but the generic elements are so relentless there is little space for the central relationship to bloom, despite admirable performances from Hardy and Rapace. We are left with a brutal thriller which at times excites but can cut corners in verisimilitude to accommodate its ambitious agenda.
Country: CZ/GB/US/RUS
Technical: col/2.35:1. 137m
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Vincent Cassel
Synopsis:
Orphaned by Stalin's war on the kulaks, made a hero by the Great Patriotic War, Leo Demidov becomes a favoured officer of the MGB secret police. However, when a child killer strikes someone close to him, his childhood experiences return to torment him. Learning that there is no such thing as murder in Uncle Joe's paradise, he must also choose whether to stand by his wife when she is accused of subversion. Banished to a distant industrial province, he again comes across evidence of the killer's activity and determines to pursue an investigation.
Review:
Part of the problem with Espinosa's gruelling exposé of Soviet implacability (even when rehabilitated, Demidov must acknowledge that the killer was a victim of Nazi manipulation), is its epic scale (huge international cast, multi-stranded storyline, Ridley Scott's name on the roster of producers). In essence the film is about the cost of retaining your humanity in a totalitarian régime, but the generic elements are so relentless there is little space for the central relationship to bloom, despite admirable performances from Hardy and Rapace. We are left with a brutal thriller which at times excites but can cut corners in verisimilitude to accommodate its ambitious agenda.
Country: CZ/GB/US/RUS
Technical: col/2.35:1. 137m
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Cast: Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Vincent Cassel
Synopsis:
Orphaned by Stalin's war on the kulaks, made a hero by the Great Patriotic War, Leo Demidov becomes a favoured officer of the MGB secret police. However, when a child killer strikes someone close to him, his childhood experiences return to torment him. Learning that there is no such thing as murder in Uncle Joe's paradise, he must also choose whether to stand by his wife when she is accused of subversion. Banished to a distant industrial province, he again comes across evidence of the killer's activity and determines to pursue an investigation.
Review:
Part of the problem with Espinosa's gruelling exposé of Soviet implacability (even when rehabilitated, Demidov must acknowledge that the killer was a victim of Nazi manipulation), is its epic scale (huge international cast, multi-stranded storyline, Ridley Scott's name on the roster of producers). In essence the film is about the cost of retaining your humanity in a totalitarian régime, but the generic elements are so relentless there is little space for the central relationship to bloom, despite admirable performances from Hardy and Rapace. We are left with a brutal thriller which at times excites but can cut corners in verisimilitude to accommodate its ambitious agenda.