Heartwarming story of a child's odyssey

Seldom has a film opened on a more bleak cold unfriendly landscape as The Italian. It sets the Dickensian scene not of Victorian England but Russia just a couple of years ago. The hero is a modern day David Copperfield with more than a dash of the Dodger. This is an exceptional film about childhood in circumstances of sad poverty and deprivation with the uplifting strength of character of an orphan who sets out against overwhelming odds to find his real mother in a frozen desolate part of the world. Although Russian production much of the picture will remind you of the classic Italian movie The Bicycle Thief, and perhaps even Cinema Paradiso in its remarkable depiction of life seen through the eyes of a child.

Vanya (Kolya Spiridonov) is a six year old boy living in an appalling northern Russian orphanage under the strict supervision of drunken and unshaven Headmaster (Yuri Itskov) in cahoots with an unscrupulous Madam (Maria Kuznetsova) who arranges adoptions to overseas couples with considerable profit to herself. When an Italian couple decide to adopt Vanya and take him out the miserable home to a comfortable life in Italy it looks he's in luck, called The Italian by his mates, although sadly his best friend is passed over yet again. However a mother of one of the other boys comes to the home looking for her son. The headmaster cruelly throws her out as her son has already been adopted by foreigners. The woman later meets Vanya in a pivotal scene and asks about her son's new mother, then later is found to have committed suicide in remorse.

Vanya now starts to think about his own mother and decides he wants to find out who she is and if she would like him back too. He even learns to read in order to track down his parent. He escapes the orphanage and begins his odyssey into the unknown a violent decaying world, on foot and by train, trying to elude capture from the orphanage who have been already paid for his adoption. It's a journey through hell in many ways, through rusting villages that have something of Kafka about them, yet he finds help from the most unlikely and rough people who inhabit this strange often frightening world.

But Vanya manages to outrun and survive the threats from the orphanage, the police, and fights with young toughs with an agility and cunning that is truly remarkable in a child, but somehow totally believable. He will have your sympathy all the way and you'll be barracking that he finds his mother. The final shot of his face eyes wide with hope is one of the memorable images of the cinema.

Even more surprising is the fact this not a myth but based on a true story, and the first feature by the Russian director Andrei Kravchuck showing a competence that would do great credit to a veteran. While Kolya Spiridonov as Vanya gives a near incredible performance, the other characters are portrayed with such clarity and realism its like viewing a documentary. And what indelible characters they are, the sly foxy Madam, the alcoholic Headmaster maudlin in his own failure, the bully boy Kolyan, and the worldly young girl who starts Vanya on his way. The fine photography makes the most of the bleak landscapes creating a palpable feeling of cold, while the haunting music counterpoints the images effectively. All round this is a film of great merit and hopefully it will get a wide audience despite or perhaps because of its art house credentials.

John Bale

Send us your feedback on this article or anything else in The Blurb

Advertise with us | About us |Our privacy policy

The Italian

Our rating:

Director: Andrei Kravchuk
Cast: Kolya Spiridonov, Denis Moiseenko,
Yuri Itskov
Release: 25 April, 2007
Rated: PG

... Vanya Solntsev

Subscribe
to our monthly e-newsletter

Check us out on

Subscribe to our blog to keep
up to date on the latest news and reviews
at The Blurb