Review of Child 44 (2015) by Ola G — 02 Apr 2016

A child is orphaned during the Holodomor in the Ukrainian S.S.R. in the early 1930s during Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union. He runs away from his orphanage and is taken in by Soviet soldiers. They give him the nickname "Leo", and with them he honours himself in battle and becomes a war hero. In the early 1950s, Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) is now a Ministry of State Security (MGB) Agent who uncovers a strange and brutal series of child murders. MGB leadership refuses to acknowledge the deaths as murders, because Soviet doctrine states that only capitalism produces serial murder. The son of Leo's partner is murdered by the serial killer and during Leo's investigation, his wife, Raisa (Noomi Rapace), is accused of being disloyal to the state. Leo suspects that his amoral and ambitious enemy in the MGB, Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman), is behind the charges. Leo refuses to support the accusation, and he is forced to take a demeaning militia position in the town of Volsk. Raisa accompanies him and must work as a janitor. In Volsk Leo meets his new commander, General Nesterov (Gary Oldman). Meanwhile, Vasili calls Raisa and attempts to persuade her to leave Leo and join him in Moscow. When she refuses, Vasili orders a local MGB man to abuse her. Raisa later admits to Leo that she agreed to marry him because she was afraid to refuse the proposal given his high rank (at the time) within the MGB. More child murder victims are discovered in Volsk, and after Leo tells Raisa that he suspects a serial killer, she decides to help his investigation. Together they convince Nesterov and his wife that the deaths must be investigated as serial murder. Further investigation reveals that the killer has claimed at least 44 victims and that he is traveling the rail lines to find his targets...

"Child 44" is based on the first of a trilogy by Tom Rob Smith and set in the Stalin era of the Soviet Union. Writing in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film 2 stars out of 5 and reported that "Tom Rob Smith's page-turning bestseller from 2008 has been turned into a heavy, indigestible meal of a film, full of actors speaking English with very heavy Russian accents - actors from England, Sweden, Lebanon, Poland, Australia, almost anywhere but Russia". Bradshaw added: "Tom Hardy brings his robust, muscular presence to the role of Leo and he is watchable enough, but the forensic and psychological aspects are just dull; there is no fascination in the detection process. Everything is immersed in a cloudy brown soup". Also in The Guardian, reviewer Phil Hoad wrote: "Child 44 has a fascinating premise and setting [but] failed to convincingly package this as either an upscale thriller along the lines of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, as implied by a powerhouse cast also featuring Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace and Paddy Considine; or as something racier à la The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Gone Girl (indeed, the film itself falls awkwardly between these two stools)". Hoad added, "as for the debacle over the Slavic-slathered English spoken by the entire cast, it further highlights the uncertainty about whether Child 44 was intended for the multiplex or the arthouse. Presumably a decision made to placate the former, opting to turn the film into an Iron Curtain version of 'Allo 'Allo damaged its integrity. Aren't we past this kind of cultural bastardisation? It is possible for foreign-language films to cross over: The Lives of Others, which meted out its own totalitarian intrigue in German, took $66m overseas - the kind of cash Child 44 will never see". The book itself has a promising foundation, the Stalin era of the Soviet Union during the 50s and everything that followed with that and the story is fleshed out with love, war, politics, violence, loyalty, betrayal and a serial-killer. However, despite handcraft from director Daniel Espinosa with solid settings, environments and feeling of being behind the iron curtain with Stalin looming over the film, "Child 44" still becomes mediocre due to a couple of things. Having Tom Hardy and co talking in english with a thick russian accent makes it almost 'Allo 'Allo funny/bad as Phil Hoad said as no one is actually from Russia (and no one really reaches their high points as actors), plus the screenplay has eliminated the ending twist in the film which makes no sense as that was the highlight in the book. Without the twist the ending is just anticlimactic and the whole path towards the end becomes just an "Ok?". I reckon the production team had a hard time to settle what sort of movie they wanted to make. Action thriller? Murder mystery? "Child 44" has it´s moments, but has as well too many flaws to reach the heights of the book. Trivia: The first cut of the film was 5 1/2 hours long. The film was banned in Russia shortly after receiving the screening license.