Child 44 - Il bambino n. 44

'CHILD 44': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A mystery thriller film; starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman. Hardy plays a security officer, that's investigating a child murderer, in 1950s (Stalin era) Soviet Union. The film was directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Richard Price; it's based on the novel, of the same name, by Tom Rob Smith (the first of a trilogy of books). It also costars Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassel and Jason Clarke. The movie was a bomb at the box office, and got mostly negative reviews from critics, but I enjoyed it.

Leo Demidov (Hardy) is a former war hero, that now works as an MGB agent, in the 1950s Soviet Union. He's a strong supporter of Stalin, and his country's ideals, but when a series of children start turning up dead, his loyalty is put to the test; being that murder is not supposed to exist there (it's believed to be only a capitalism crime). When his partner's son is killed, he refuses to go along with the government's cover-up (of the crime), and he's exiled; along with his wife (Rapace). Despite their treatment, Leo continues to pursue the killer, and justice.

The movie is well directed, written and full of great performances; especially Tom Hardy (my favorite male actor). Some people have a problem with the fact that the actors all speak English, in the film, but with Russian accents; that didn't bother me. I actually like the characters (especially Hardy's) and the insightful political commentary of those times; I found the movie to be quite involving as well. Maybe one of the main problems, with the film, is that the first cut was 5.5 hours long; and now it's less than 2.5 hours. It's a lot of story, and character development, crammed into one movie. The film is actually pretty fast paced too, it just doesn't quite come together right. I still enjoyed it though.

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The Ukranian orphan Leo is raised by a Russian family and becomes national hero during the World War II. In the 50's, Captain Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), his best friend Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares) and the coward Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman) join the Ministry of State Security (MGB) during the political regime of Stalin and Leo marries Raisa Demidov (Noomi Rapace). When Alexei's son is found murdered completely naked near the railway, the official explanation is that the boy was hit by a train since there is no murder in paradise since it is a capitalist disease. But Leo finds other similar cases and proceeds investigating, falling in disgrace with the Party. He loses his rank and is transferred with Raisa to Volsk to work with General Mikhail Nesterov (Gary Oldman). When a body of another boy is found near the railway in the same conditions of Alexei's son, Leo convinces Nesterov that there is a serial-killer and he agrees that Leo conducts a further investigation. Meanwhile the ambitious Vasili tries to persuade Raisa to leave Leo and move to Moscow to stay with him. What will happen to Leo and Raisa?

"Child 44" is a film with a promising storyline, great performances but not engaging. The political subplot is weird and raises the doubt whether it is true the premise that "there is no murder in paradise" or it is an anti-soviet propaganda as mentioned in the previous review. In a controlled political society by a dictatorship, it is expected low crime rates as consequence. But why not secretly investigate a serial-killer? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Crimes Ocultos" ("Hidden Crimes")

The only reason I am writing are view is because some simpletons have actually given this 1 star, what kind of idiot thinks this is 1 star viewing? Do not believe these trolls, whilst I prefer films to be in the local language this does not detract from such a good movie. My only criticism is that the killers reasons are not explored enough and too much emphasis is on the central characters rather than the story line. Having said that, such strong performances easily rate this a 7. Gary Oldman is excellent as usual and Tom Hardy is the thinking persons go to actor, but Naomi in my humble opinion was the standout character and elevated the survival instinct interest inside the USSR to a believable level. Like Downfall,if a Russian version was available this would have made such stronger viewing but I am more than happy with what I saw.

I watched this film with a definite unease, having read the description of the film I didn't find it hugely appealing, just because of the subject matter, which is particularly dark, but because Mr Hardy is in it, I had to watch it. They managed to take us back to Stalin's Russia, we see a brief glimpse of how tough life was for people back then, those poor people were living in horrendous conditions. The story in brief, The State have turned Russia into a Paradise, crime simply isn't possible, and the thought of a child killer unthinkable, but when young boys are being found murdered along the train tracks the unthinkable is happening. Security Officer Leo Demidov is disgraced, but believes a Serial killer is to blame, and despite the vast obstacles the state puts in place, he sets out to find the killer. Tom Hardy (of course) and Gary Oldman are particularly brilliant, and there are also wonderful performances from Paddy Considine and Petr Vanek and many others. As I've mentioned it is quite harrowing matter, but it's not overly done, mercifully the scenes aren't that gory, it could have been dreadfully overdone. I eagerly anticipate the next instalment. 9/10

Child 44 is so much more than just crime. Yes the movie rotates about the killing of children however the actual drama, tension and horrific atmosphere lays in the system and society/politics during that time (true or fictional is not up to me to decide on). The movie managed to paint an intense picture of a very special era. Disturbing, and in its authenticity and accuracy plain awful to watch. Fear and paranoia washes out even the smallest bit of kindness. despotism everywhere, no matter what u do or don't do, everything can be interpreted as wrong and used against u. condemn was only one vehicle for pure cruelty and destroying life after life after life. The male lead said at one point: We're already dead. Which was only one of many memorable situations which left me speechless and touched me deeply. An excellent cast in an excellent movie.