Review of Children of the Revolution (1996) by James W — 24 Jul 2007

Hanging around socialists in student circles you begin to wonder if they simply pull all this rhetoric out of their arses, or if it was around before that.

Well, it most certainly was, and in 'Children of the Revolution' is in the guise of Joan Fraser Welch (Judy Davis), President of the Balmain Branch of the Communist Party in the 1950s. Alongside her is her life partner, Zachary Welch (Geoffrey Rush) a man who is very much under her thumb and not as committed to Stalinism as Joan would like.

Joan spends much of her time protesting, and writing letters to Uncle Joe aka Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham), who finally receives her letters and is intrigued enough to invite her to Moscow, for the Communist Party conference, but most importantly, so he can 'get to know her'. Out of it, she gets a child, Joe (Richard Roxburgh), who eventually winds up a class traitor, and brings Australia on the verge on revolution.

This mockumentary styled comedy/drama is helped along by its brilliant cast, Davis, in particular, but also with supporting roles from Sam Neill and Rachel Griffiths. Rush is great as the embattled and lovelorn Welch, while Roxburgh is particularly menacing as Joe, later in the film.

It never quite hits the mark, but it does have a very subtle humour which is easy to miss, although I daresay I found the beginning of the film far funnier than most due to my proximity in terms of socialist activists.

Things to watch out for: Flacco and Sandman (from Good News Week) as two of 'The 3 Stooges'. Rachel Griffiths is also particularly sexy as a dominatrixesque cop.