Review of Child 44 (2015) by Stuart M — 02 Sep 2017

A classic example of a film's sideplot overwhelming its main plot to the detriment of both. And also the focusing n worldbuilding over plot. This film was supposed to be a murder mystery about a man hunting a serial killer in Stalin's Russia. Instead, it's a movie about the horrors of Soviet Russia with a murder mystery sideplot that seems to keep getting lost and then resurfacing to distract the hero from the goal of survival. You can see through the haze that the basic drama of the film's supposed to be the interference that the Russian state makes with the murder investigation for the ideological reason that serial killers (not all murderers as the film would have it) can't exist in Communism and are a sign of degenerate capitalist excess, but this combines with the general nastiness of the period to consume all the screentime. And honestly, it shouldn't be that hard to convince us of the importance of stopping a serial killer that targets children, but the film takes this so utterly for granted while throwing all these other horrors at us that in the end it seems pointless trying to stop just one example of cruelty to dozens when the state is itself murdering millions.

The personal journey is interesting as well. Leo (Hardy) is a member of the Soviet secret police who goes around murdering "traitors" and "dissidents" for a living. While he's marginally better than his comrades (he doesn't approve of unnecessary reprisal killings against family members) he's still willingly abandoned his conscience to the state. His journey is one of redemption, as his attempt to solve these murders against the will of the state starts to make him less unquestioning in his loyalties. The other aspect of this is his wife. Instructed to denounce her he refuses, and as a result loses his position and is deported to the country. Their relationship is very interesting. He clearly sees it as a storybook romance where he wins the heart of a local beauty, but she saw it as a scary state-sponsored killer hunting her and then making her an offer she really couldn't refuse. It's a really fascinating relationship, especially since they're both completely accurate accounts of their courtship, and the way the unseen tensions rise to the surface as Leo loses his position of authority and starts to develop a conscience is believable. The only issue is that, like so much of the other themes, the drama gets overwhelmed in the mess of other things happening. Which really is a shame since both Rapace and Hardy sell their parts well. Hardy in particular manages a delicate balance of hulking cruelty and restrained torment.

A quick note about accents: the HBO TV movie based on the case this film was inspired by does the exact same thing while still being very good. Minor quibbles like accents and the like are only glaring issues when the rest of the film doesn't give you enough to grab onto.