Review of Child 44 (2015) by Akiko A — 08 May 2015

A very dark story about a time in Russia that has long since passed into mysterious veil. Child 44 is based on the book by Tom Rob Smith who admits that the story is based on a true story that happened 20 years after the time period his story takes place.

So, readers this is a work of fiction not non-fiction. Child 44 is a political drama that is set in 1950's Russia when the Secret Police kept tabs in the citizens to make sure they didn't betray their country.

Leo is a secret police agent that was rescued from as an Orphan by one another agent when he was a child. His closest friend finds out that his child has been hit by a train. He questions the evidence.

Leo is supposed to tell his friend not to challenge the findings, and keep the party line. Leo feels conflicted because he can't get the picture of the child out of his mind. Later his wife is accused of being a traitor, and Leo loses everything because he refuses to denounce his wife Raisa.

They are sent into exile to an outpost in the middle of nowhere. It is here that Leo meets General Mikhail Nesterov, who is investigating more child murders. Leo, Raisa, and the General embark on a journey to track this serial killer secretly as the justice system that insists that there is "No murder in paradise.

" The story reveals deep emotional scars in the relationship between Leo & Raisa. What Leo believes is torn apart by Raisa's confession about why she married Leo. I found their story to be compelling part of the movie.

As the movie comes to it's final end, you see a glimpse of politics through a fictional lens of what life might have been like living behind the iron curtain. Just one view of many.