The Thief
|
Our Price: $34.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $4.22 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Thief
Movie Review: Forget the Kleenex, get a towel
Summary: 5 Stars
The allegory in this film of a Stalin/USSR that the child Sanja must defeat went right over my head. So if you're looking for a deep analysis of the directors' subliminal intentions, I can't help you there. But I can tell you that "The Thief" struck me as the most poignant human drama I've seen since "Gallipolli". Briefly, a soldier's widow with a young son is won over by Tolya, a striking figure in a Red Army uniform which indeed does gaurd a tattoo of Stalin. Once the widow has learned of Tolya's habitual theft, along with his lack of remorse and empathy for others, she is already caught in his romantic spell. And Sanja, at first terrified of this new man in the family, gradually trusts him more and more. Especially for the innocent child, portrayed in awestruck wonder by Misha Philipchuk, this set-up bodes heartbreak.
And the film does not disappoint in that expectation. This is well visualized when an older Sanja, alone and desperate to find Tolya, stares in disbelief as the latter, finally found, doesn't recognize him and ridicules his salutation of "Daddy"...the very nickname the con-artist had insisted on during their days together.
The most innocent and trusting in this film are prey to those whose only desire is to please themselves....and to use the innocents for that purpose. But except for the child, the "innocent" are not blameless in the scenarios that ensue. Sanja's mother,Katje, sees many signs throughout first scenes of Tolya's true character, in his gruffness and cruelty to others, but she stays with him nonetheless, even to the point of jeapordizing her own life.
The device of using a child's eyes as a window to this tragedy works well in this film, emphasizing the difference between the imagined, idolized Tolyan and the real one: not only in his eyes, but in everyone's. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, although I did use a lot of Kleenex.
DVD Extras: trailer for film, subtitles in French, English & Spanish, scene breakdown.
Movie Review: A Film Well Worth Re-Visiting
Summary: 5 Stars
Pavel Chukhraj's award winning film THE THIEF is one of those special films that should be owned and revisited - like a favorite novel or poem or symphony. Chukhraj both wrote and directed this tale/fable set in Stalinist Russia, a story which encompasses the impact on a child of loss of a father in the war, the appalling living standards in the communes during the 1950s where multiple families and comrades shared space and survived the lack of privacy, and the extents to which people will go to survive what fate has dealt them and the sad sequelae that follow.
The story opens on the cold steppes of Russia where Katya (Yekaterina Rednikova) gives birth to a son Sanya (Misha Philipchuk) in the mud of a country in disrepair in 1946. Narrated by the adult Sanya we next see Katya and Sanya on board a train where they encounter a handsome soldier Tolyan (Vladimir Mashkov), a seemingly gentle man who immediately bonds with the two 'refugees'. The remainder of the story deals with the fact that Tolyan is a thief and causes disruptive moves of his 'family' as he plunges them deeper into the hole of his crimes. At times he is harsh with Sanja, at time he is protective and instructive as a surrogate father, teaching Sanya the cruel rules of survival. He is finally imprisoned, Katya dies from an infection following an abortion, and Sanya grows into his teen years in orphanages, dreaming of his real father, wondering about Tolyan. They two make a final surprise encounter that leads to the ending of the story.
The actors are exceptional, the supporting cast is particularly fine, and the cinematography and set designs are something beyond description. The eyes of Sanya (those of Misha Philipchuk) will haunt you and beckon return to this most impressive and touching film. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 05
Movie Review: Vor aka Bop aka The Thief
Summary: 5 Stars
What gets me about this film is that most assume it`s about the Russian peoples relationship with Stalin. Yes, but that is just scratching the surface. It`s too easy an explanation and it`s wrong to assume that this movie is all about that because it does not explain the message of the movie entirely. More importantly, it is a movie of role models and how they affect us throughout our lives. For me, many people are lost today, they do not know who they are or what they are doing with their lives because their identity of who they are was never formed while growing up. One of the worst forms of child abuse, if not the worst, is to strip that identity or the chance to form that identity from a child. When it is not seen to fruition, everything else goes with it. Your soul, your will, is non-existent. When he shoots the thief he is in fact showing that. The fact that the thief was a bad man is irrelevant, all that matters is that he made an impression on the boy, showed him love and respect, and when he finds later on that the thief rejects him, the other end of the spectrum, which is symbolic of abuse growing up, he feels lost and feels he is 'nothing..nothing'. It`s all about love and how we cannot form into full human beings without being shown the path of love whether that path is bad or good. It`s like being told there is a treasure to be found and some are given a map and some maps are stolen from those who have them. It`s why kids are into ghetto rap despite the drug and gang focus. The message is not important, the identity is, so much so that they don`t care if they get killed. The id is more important as love and acceptance are important above all else.Movie Review: A timely look at family distortion
Summary: 5 Stars
The Thief was a grammy award nominee in 1999 for best foreign film. It's Russian (with subtitles) and takes as its subject a little boy in post WWII Soviet Russia who's father is killed in the war. His mother is befriended by another soldier and the movie traces the development of the new family. I use the term family very loosely, for reasons that'll be quite clear when you see the movie, as I hope you will. The relationships are explored with remarkable candor and at times graphic realism. I can easily see why it was nominated for best picture. Both of the adult characters are tragic figures in the classic sense - strangely dignified but doomed to suffer for the singular flaw in their personality. What really makes the movie so moving - and so modern - is that the tragedy of the two grown-ups is deflected onto the pitiful little boy, who comes off as both hapless victim and tenacious survivor. Though set in the dismally impoverished outskirts of Stalinist Russia, it has particular relevance today, since it explores with great depth and understanding the fragile and demanding constitution of young children and the dangers of social instability when children are involved. (When you see the movie, think back to the recent shooting in Michigan and the social circumstances surrounding the little boy involved there, and you'll get an haunting sense for just how timely the movie is.) It easily merits an enthusiastic recommendation from me.Movie Review: Russian Poetry
Summary: 5 Stars
The Thief is a very beautiful movie. It is very romantic, genuine, never vulgar. Photography is superb, acting is good, the story is moving. A very true and rather unusual performance: such a movie could only have been made by a Russian, or maybe an Italian (think Cinema Paradiso), but definitely not in Hollywood, which makes it interesting to some, and unappealing to others. A great movie which deserves more attention than it actually received. The European VHS version is preferable to this one, though: for the US the end has been cut, which really takes away a lot of the drama. What a shame.