The Italian
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Movie Reviews of The Italian
Movie Review: Very Efficient
Summary: 5 Stars
I received the package when they said it would arrive. It was packaged well. Excellent service.Movie Review: Happy!
Summary: 5 Stars
A Russian movie with a happy ending!!! Who knew they even existed??? It was a great movie.Movie Review: A beautiful depiction of ones desire to find his rightful home...
Summary: 4 Stars
I've wanted to see this movie for quite some time, for it encompasses two things I've very passionate about (that would be European film and the growing problems with child placement). I finally had a chance to watch this movie last night, and I must say that it is truly moving. There are so many heartwarming, as well as heartbreaking scenes within this film that will choke up even the sturdiest of manly men, for whose heart doesn't melt when peering into the eyes of a child?
`Italianetz' tells the story of young Vanya Solntsev, merely six years old, who is living in an orphanage in Russia. He is given the rare opportunity of adoption when an Italian couple comes to see him, falls in love with him (he is utterly adorable) and proposes to take him back to Italy with them. He has a few months before the paperwork will be done, and in the meantime a desperate mother comes to the orphanage looking for her son. Her son though, has already been adopted, and she is sent away empty handed. This gets the wheels turning in young Vanya's head as he wonders what would happen if he goes away with this couple and his mother comes looking for him. He wants to be with his biological mother so badly that he puts his safety in danger by running away to find her. This causes uproar within the orphanage, for the Italian couple has already paid for Vanya. This spurns a desperate search for his return, and this means that Vanya will have to work fast in order to find his mother before the Madam finds him.
The film is gloriously moved along by some splendid performances and some even better cinematography that captures the gloomy air permeating the conditions these youths live in. The scenes within the orphanage are marvelously constructed, and the interactions between the children and the staff are brilliantly portrayed.
Young Kolya Spiridonov is wonderful as Vanya; giving him such natural concern and wonderment. We can totally see this young mans yearning for answers, his desire to be reunited with his family. Olga Shuvalova is also wonderful as Irka, the pretty young streetwalker who befriends Vanya and helps him the best she can in his quest for his mother. Denis Moiseenko has the difficult job of playing a sympathetic villain, for he plays the leader of a small gang within the orphanage and he is responsible for disciplining young Vanya when his dreams of leaving the orphanage interfere with the lives of the other children. His explanation to Vanya of his own home life is devastatingly moving and sincere. Mariya Kuznetsova (who plays the Madam) delicately exposes the desperation that comes from poor living conditions and economic decline as her material needs cloud her judgment.
What impressed me most about `Italianetz' was the masterful camera work and use of muted, yet rich colors. Everything is dark and almost eerie, yet in a richly almost vibrant way. Nothing seems gritty or gruff, but all the colors, as dark and ominous as they are, are polished and crisp. This is especially effective in the opening scene where the Italians are guided through the fog by a mass of children. This particular scene sets an early tone for the film.
My only complaint here is that the films ultimate preposterousness tends to take away from the impact the film should have on someone. It is a very moving and emotionally stirring film, but one cannot help but draw the conclusion that it is all far too saccharine to be remotely possible. That's why I enjoyed the first half of the film so much more than the second half, for the interactions within the confines of the orphanage are marvelously real and raw, but once Vanya leaves his home to find his `home' the film takes a detour towards schmaltzville. The final frame, in my opinion, dropped the film down a small notch, for it ending the film on a rather bland note. Yes, it was sweet and sentimentally satisfying, but so unrealistic that I wanted to cry, because up until that point I had so much hope invested in this film; for I really thought it was going to be perfect.
Should you see this movie? Most definitely! It is beautiful in many ways and ultimately unforgettable. Could it have been better? Most definitely! It had a lot of potential to bear a more honest conclusion, given its blatantly honest beginning; but one cannot complain to heavily for `Italianetz' is still a very moving and touching film that will leave you very satisfied, if not even a little enlightened.
Movie Review: Believable and engaging human drama
Summary: 4 Stars
This Russian film from 2005 marks Andrei Kravchuk's debut as a director. It presents a powerful and poignant portrayal of modern-day existence in post-Communist provincial Russia.
6-year old Vanya, played to perfection by Kolya Spiridonov, lives in a squalid, run-down orphanage. Adoption by affluent western couples offers the youngsters their only hope of avoiding the prospect of growing up into a life of poverty, petty crime and prostitution--as evidenced by an older generation of children who occupy the orphanage's boiler room and effectively run the place while the director drinks away the cash that comes his way from the steady sale of his charges. The largest proportion of the large adoption fees goes, of course, to the greedy and powerful adoption agent, "Madam", who uses the orphanage entirely for her own gain. Vanya appears to be fortunate when he is selected for adoption by an Italian couple; until he is brought to the realisation that once in Italy, with a new name, he will be lost forever to his real mother, if she is still alive and should she ever come looking for him. Vanya's niggling doubts threaten the established order of things and so everyone, including the gang (or is that family?) of older children who missed out on his opportunity (as they see it), do their utmost to make him accept adoption as by far his best chance in life as well as the best for everyone else. Vanya remains unconvinced.
This bleak but at times uplifting film features an almost colourless world and it is some time before one realises that is not, in fact, shot in black and white at all but rather depicts a reality that is itself almost entirely devoid of colour. The soft soundtrack score is just right also, adding to the overall mood in a gentle and understated way which, like the rest of the film, works a slow magic on the viewer. The story-line is well-paced and engrossing and all of the main characters are well fleshed-out too; even the toughest of them are (almost) all shown to have at least some human side which makes them all the more believable. The acting is never less than superb throughout. The only drawback that I found is that the dialogue is so rapid that one's attention is often perforce divided between visuals and subtitles to a greater extent than is really comfortable.
This production shows that there is still much human decency to be found amongst the ordinary peoples of modern-day Russia, despite the impoverished conditions in which they live and the copious layers of corruption under which so much of their officialdom (or what substitutes for it) operates. The film is no easy ride by any means but nevertheless is one I recommended you try. It provides a refreshing change from what so often masquerades as "human interest drama" these days.
Movie Review: one boy's odyssey
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Italian" is a touching tale of a six-year-old Russian orphan who goes in search of the mother who gave him to a foundling home when he was just an infant.
Vanya has spent virtually his entire life growing up in a substandard orphanage run by an alcoholic director and a cold-hearted administrator. The children there live in virtual squalor with no effort on the part of the leaders to properly instruct or educate them. The future for most of these youngsters is a bleak one indeed, with a life of petty thievery and/or prostitution the most likely outcome for any of them not fortunate enough to catch the eye of some prospective, loving parent. Yet, as the movie begins, young Vanya's personal nightmare seems to be coming to an end as a kind Italian couple has come to Russia with the intention of adopting Vanya and taking him back to Italy with them. However, before the proper papers can be signed, the boy, sensing he must act quickly before it is too late, sets off on a long, arduous journey to see if he can find the mother who abandoned him as a baby.
"The Italian" is a compelling slice-of-life drama that has a great deal to say not only about the appalling conditions faced by orphans in Russia today, but about the determination of the human spirit and the need for love that exists at the center of every human heart. Director Andrei Kravchuk brings a near-documentary quality to the film, as he focuses his camera on the details of everyday life in the orphanage and the countryside through which Vanya travels. This air of naturalism extends to the actors as well, particularly young Kolya Spiridonov, who, as Vanya, gives a performance that can only be termed extraordinary and heartbreaking. After this film and the brilliant "The Return," I'm convinced that Russia has some of the finest child actors in the business. Indeed, there is nothing less than a superb performance in the entire film.
"The Italian" is a film tuned to the realities of life in a harsh environment, where cruel and violent deeds often share the stage with acts of random kindness. Vanya's epic adventure provides more than ample opportunity for him to experience both, but it is the magnanimity he encounters at the hands of strangers that lingers longest in memory.