Child 44

Plot synopsis:
In 1933, a child (Xavier Atkins) orphaned during the Ukrainian Holodomor runs away from his orphanage and is taken in by a Red Army unit and adopted by its kindly commander (Mark Lewis Jones), who gives him the name Leo Demidov. In 1945, now a sergeant with the unit, Leo (Tom Hardy) becomes an icon across the Soviet Union when he is photographed planting the Soviet flag atop the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin. He becomes a Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1953, Leo, now married to Raisa (Noomi Rapace) and living in Moscow, is a captain in the Ministry of State Security (MGB), commanding a unit tasked with tracking down and arresting dissidents. They arrest a veterinarian, Anatoly Brodsky (Jason Clarke), and during the arrest, one of Leo's subordinates, the cowardly but ambitious Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman), shoots a farmer, Semyon Okun (Michael Nardone), and his wife in whose barn Brodsky has been hiding, orphaning their two young daughters. Angry, Leo strikes Vasili, who harbours growing resentment against Leo and the other officer in the unit, Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares); all three were in Berlin together in 1945. Vasili is in charge of Brodsky's interrogation and execution, and one of the names he gives to their superior, Major Kuzmin (Vincent Cassel), is that of Raisa, a primary school teacher several of whose colleagues have recently been arrested for dissident views. Kuzmin orders Leo to investigate his own wife.
Meanwhile, Alexei's young son, Jora (Zdenek Barinka), is found dead near a railway yard. Although the initial pathology report shows injuries consistent with torture, the surgically precise removal of organs, and drowning, the authorities declare that he was hit by a train, as Stalin has decreed that murder is a capitalist disease; there is no murder in a communist paradise. Alexei is forced to accept the official conclusions in order to save himself and the rest of his family.
Knowing what the consequences will be, Leo tells his superiors that his investigation has shown that Raisa is innocent of any crime and steadfastly refuses to denounce her. They are both later arrested by Vasili and Alexei and sent into internal exile in the provincial city of Volsk. Leo loses all rank and is forced to become a lowly militiaman under the command of General Nesterov (Gary Oldman), while Raisa is humiliated by becoming a cleaner in a school.
When the body of another child is found near the railway line in Volsk with similar injuries to Jora, Leo begins to realise that a serial killer is on the loose. After discovering that Alexander Pickup (Anssi Lindström), the man who found the body, is a homosexual, Nesterov forces him to denounce every local homosexual he knows; when Pickup, a railway ticket collector, commits suicide by walking in front of a train, the authorities say the case has been solved. However, Leo persuades Nesterov, who has young sons himself, to investigate further, and the two discover that the bodies of at least 43 more children have been found along the railway line from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow.
Meanwhile, Vasili, who now has Leo's old job, calls Raisa and attempts to persuade her to leave Leo and join him in Moscow. When she refuses, Vasili orders an MGB agent to abuse her. Raisa later admits to Leo that she only agreed to marry him because she was afraid to refuse the proposal given his status as an MGB officer.
Leo and Raisa travel in secret to Moscow to interview a woman who reported seeing Jora with a stranger in the railway yards. Although Alexei helps them, the interview is unproductive, as the woman is too frightened to talk. Due to a large MGB and militia presence at the station, the pair ask Raisa's former colleague and friend Ivan Sukov (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), who she knows has contacts among dissident groups, to help them get out of Moscow. However, in his apartment they discover clues that he is in fact an undercover MGB officer (the cause of the arrests in Raisa's school) and that he has called the authorities; Leo kills him and they escape just before Vasili arrives. Leo tells Raisa that she can leave him if she wishes, but she chooses to stay with him.
Leo and Raisa manage to return to Volsk, but there they are arrested by Vasili and his men for Sukov's murder. After being interrogated, Leo and Raisa are put on a train to a gulag. During the train ride, they are attacked by killers on Vasili's orders; after killing their assailants, Leo and Raisa jump off the train. They hitch a lift to Rostov, where the highest concentration of the serial killer's victims has been found; they correctly reason that the killer must work close to the rail yards there and travel the railway lines to Moscow in the course of his work. Vasili forces Alexei to tell him where they are likely to have gone, promising his family will be safe if he does so; Alexei tells him that Rostov is the likely destination before Vasili shoots him.
In the Rostov tractor factory, Leo identifies the killer by cross-referencing workers' travel assignments with the location and date of the murders. Leo and Raisa pursue the killer, Vladimir Malevich (Paddy Considine), into the woods and corner him. He surrenders to them and says he cannot control his urges to kill children, but is suddenly shot in the head by Vasili, who has followed Leo and Raisa. Vasili tries to execute them, but, after a vicious struggle, they kill him. Leo cleverly tells the MGB agents who arrive that Malevich killed Vasili and that he then shot Malevich.
Leo and Raisa are both reinstated in their old jobs and Kuzmin is removed for his failures. Leo is offered a promotion and a promising political position by his new superior, Major Grachev (Charles Dance), if he will agree that Malevich, a former army doctor who spent two years in a German POW camp, was 'turned' by the Germans and sent back to the Soviet Union to wreak havoc there. He refuses the promotion, but requests permission to set up and lead a homicide division in Moscow within the newly created KGB, with the help of General Nesterov. Grachev agrees and Leo in return agrees that Malevich was clearly a Nazi agent. At least he will now have the ability and power to track down and deal with murderers, even if he still cannot openly admit that they are simply murderers and not enemy agents.
Leo and Raisa track down Tamara and Elena Okun, go to the orphanage where they have been living, and adopt them.

Tags: violence, revenge, murder, sadist, flashback

Review:
Child 44 is a dark thriller - and without giving anything away, the build up and hatred toward the serial killer really sticks you to this movie - you simply want the killer to get the most gruesome death conceivable for what he does.
Do a great film justice and don't let it die with Furious pissing on its grave.44 Child makes you actually feel as if you were transported back to soviet Russia and gives you the feeling of helpless in an unjust government.
Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman are two of my favorite working actors, and having them co-lead a Russian serial killer film seemed like a slam dunk.
Half of the movie is focused on the serial killer angle and Hardy's character going through the loops of finding the right person to help him on the case, and the other half is about Soviet officials exiling his family and stripping him of power for his disobedience.
I've seen a lot of criticism on the political and historical accuracy, it's a film not a documentary you wouldn't say gladiator isn't good because it's not accurate it's not meant to be it's purely fiction with the exception of the fact it's based on a serial killer from the same country.
The story holds his own and apart from the accents that might perhaps now and then throw of some authentic feel the movie is certainly enjoyable.Since the book in itself is superb, and by no means historically 100% accurate as the writer Tom Rob Smith also wrote in the last pages of the book, so no need for anyone to get their panties in a twist.Of course the same goes for me, so I will try to be as little judgmental as possible.
That Stalin is responsible for the deaths of millions of Russians, is still today for many Russians a form of western propaganda.Having had a Russian girlfriend a couple of years ago at her hometown somewhere in Russia (It's precise town is irrelevant) me, a few friends of mine and her sister were having a drink and a laugh in her apartment.At some point we all had to name a historic person who was important to our country and someone we saw as role model, hero or whatever.When my girlfriend's (19 year old) sister named Stalin I first assumed she began to develop a sense of sarcasm and I laughed at what I expected to be a joke.
For the purpose of exaggeration: I wonder if Nazi Germany had not been defeated during world war 2, would we see many people here at IMDb (in a post-NAZI Germany) 70+ years later commenting on movies like Schindler's List or The Grey Zone, only to paint them with the same brush of Western propaganda?For some: please don't watch this movie if you have font memories of the Soviet Era.For everyone else: It's a nice flick with a great cast, go watch it!.
Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke played minor roles..It's more like a movie u would love to see when you want something special to see..compare the variance of tom hardy's acting and his skills of expression with his first scene when he was describing about his love of life how he met his wife with the last scene when he was trying to tell those children that he cant bring their parents back from dead..boy that was something special by tom hardy..
In the 50's, Captain Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), his best friend Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares) and the coward Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman) join the Ministry of State Security (MGB) during the political regime of Stalin and Leo marries Raisa Demidov (Noomi Rapace).
Child 44 is the story of an ex member of the Russian military police who investigates a series of child murders during the Stalin-era Soviet Union.
It can't decide whether it is a serial-killer thriller or an old-school anti-Soviet propaganda movie and just ends up failing miserably on both fronts.
A dark and brooding tale about Soviet Russia circa 1953 with outstanding performances by Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Fares Fares, and Joel Kinnaman.
Fans of Noomi Rapace will find her disappearing into the character while capturing the Russian persona to perfection.Among my favorite actors - Gary Oldman does a good job but he is only in a few scenes.
If you have read Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, you will be appalled by this movie.The screen writing badly mutilates what was an excellent, moving story.The phony accents are ridiculous.The actors and scenery are top shelf, but it is all wrecked by the haphazard script and direction.I wanted to like this movie, but was badly disappointed.I think all screenwriters should study the movie based on the author Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.The book was clearly the model for the screenplay, and nothing is lost.
If you want to see this movie - done right - watch "Citizen X," the HBO movie that supposedly 'inspired" Child 44, but outshines it in every conceivable way.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112681/?ref_=nv_sr_4Anyone will be able to see where Child 44 borrows from Citizen X, but where Citizen is a true-to-the-facts, utterly chilling story about one of the worst serial killers in history, Andrei Chikatilo, the telling of which is so much more creepy and horrifying for its simplicity and lack of "Hollywood" style embellishment.Child 44 tries far too hard to be too many things, and fails at them all.
The child murders, which are supposed to be the story's catalyst, end up feeling brushed over and tacked on, while the real-life bureaucracy and just plain pigheadedness of the government-in-denial that was almost complicit in many of the deaths due to inaction, becomes a confused and unreal spy/love story/rivalry conundrum that ends up feeling contrived and unfocused.In recommending Citizen X to people, as I often have over the years, as possibly the best movie about a serial killer ever made, it is for precisely all the reasons where Child 44 goes wrong.
A crime thriller, set in the Soviet Union during the Stalin era: it sounds like a good idea.
Readers of this review, I urge you to watch the trailer of this film, then perhaps watch it again for good measure, and really ask yourself, "Does this look like a film I want to spend over 2 hours of my life watching?" I wish I had done this and perhaps if I had I wouldn't be sitting here writing this right now..Lastly, I want to know what actors like Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman are actually thinking when they receive a quarter baked script like this and actually say yes.
American (and other nations) movies bend stories to their bias all the time, so we've come to take what we see with a grain of salt.All I'll say is this:If like me, you're a Tom Hardy fan and you're watching Children 44 because you can't get enough of Tom Hardy's acting, then you're actually in for a treat as you watch the guy attempt to handle his role as a Russian anti-hero quite successfully.In fact, generally the acting from the cast was great.
These, in my opinion, are the downside to this movie.On a whole, this movie is definitely worth a watch for the appreciation of how some of our favorite actors and actresses handled their respective roles in Child 44.And if you don't want to get your panties in a bunch over how this or that wasn't portrayed accurately, watch with an open mind, and you may actually enjoy this movie like I did..
- Great acting (Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace)(They have intricate twists in their character) - Deep.
I was absolutely impressed by the quality of the acting and I could see much effort placed into ensuring the authenticity or re-enacting life in the USSR in the 1950s (language issues notwithstanding!).Once again, the performance of the cast, especially by Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman, are beyond outstanding.I have not read the book, so I am not sure how faithful it is to the novel, but the film has ignited my interest in reading the book - usually, it's the other way round for me.I found it to be a tense thriller and am somewhat disappointed with the way the movie is marketed internationally; certainly it did not receive the attention or box office receipts it deserved.
) is in itself a very good reason why you should see it.This is a good portrayal of the grim, awful reality of life under the Stalinist regime and it shows very well what this murderous, totalitarian system ( that the Russians invented and wanted to spread all over the world ) was like and what it did to people.
Acting: Tom hardy, good at his role, by the way others acting was below average.Overall Movie: A must watch average drama having some crime mystery and a little bit thrill about the life of a disgraced military officer..
There are many mixed reviews for this film but I am of the opinion its one of the best thrillers in 2015 so far, great acting throughout, there are some disjointed scenes and the story appears to lose track of itself mid way but then picks up.
In any case don't be afraid to download, rent or stream this movie if you like the actors involved, a good murder mystery, a multi faceted story line and a beautifully filmed and costumed period piece..
Most of the movie is about the challenges of being a cop in communist Russia that does not want to believe their perfect society could produce a monster and would prefer to ignore the problem, not admit to it.I learned a lot about communist Russia in the 1950s but feel the lesson drew out the movie to a point where I just wanted to sleep.Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace did not electrify the screen for me, but giving some credit here, I did like Rapace's character, but I guess there was not enough for meAnd I wish there was more Gary Oldman in the movie The movie was cold and heartless, similar to what I expected Russia was like during the time, but I was able to found no connection and became bored with the twist and turns that took the movie off its original story archCan't Recommend.
'CHILD 44': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A mystery thriller film; starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and Gary Oldman.
The movie was a bomb at the box office, and got mostly negative reviews from critics, but I enjoyed it.Leo Demidov (Hardy) is a former war hero, that now works as an MGB agent, in the 1950s Soviet Union.
The movie is well directed, written and full of great performances; especially Tom Hardy (my favorite male actor).
I actually like the characters (especially Hardy's) and the insightful political commentary of those times; I found the movie to be quite involving as well.
As an exceptionally well acted, well crafted examination of the human condition, brought to its various extremes under extraordinarily challenging circumstances, this is an example of applied filmcraft well worth its time.Noomi Rapace and Tom Hardy could not have possibly delivered their characters any better.
That's not to detract from the other actors in this production, all of whom were well cast and credibly delivered their ensemble of characters.Though the primary plot line of this story centers around a serial child killer and his eventual fate, this evolving thread is woven into the fabric of a multi-layered, complex examination of life in post WWII Stalinist Russia, the Soviet Union in its darkest days.
There is a reason why this film was banned in current day Russia.Yes, it is true that many contemporary Russians have difficulty understanding or believing the contextual background as depicted in this production, but as one who has personally known various Russians over the years who were there at that time, or who had relatives who lived through this era, the general depictions are chillingly close to the actual experiences familiar to many from that time.
The first book in that trilogy lends its title to the film "Child 44" (R, 1:37) and focuses on the real-life crimes of a Russian named Andrei Chikatilo.Demidov is played by underrated British actor Tom Hardy.
I went to watch this knowing Tom Hardy is well capable of pulling a film through on his own regardless of the story, also it's the middle of April and there's nothing else on.The film isn't bad, but it doesn't exactly get the juices flowing with excitement and intrigue around every corner but is definitely worth a watch over the latest instalment of Britain's Got Talent or whatever other series people will be telling me about on Monday morning.It has some very convenient plot moments that just seem to happen to explain the story as obviously as possible, with no real twists in the story at all.
That's just one prime example of this movie's nonsense!Another example: the character that Gary Oldman plays doesn't serve any purpose.Considering that the neither of the two story lines makes any sense, I'm inclined to believe that neither does the depiction of life at a certain time in soviet Russia.I agree with reviewer John Wayne from United States: "Citizen X" (1995) is an excellent movie about a search for a serial killer under a soviet regime: I recommend it..
I'd love them to investigate on this problem.It makes me sad when movies like this are shown to people, who are not familiar with history of Russian Empire/USSR.
Tom Rob Smith's bestseller from 2008 has been turned into a mainstream movie, with all the actors to speak English with heavy and bad Russian accent.
Anyway, read the book, be thrilled by the story, be touched by Leos inner fights, and imagine just Tom Hardy.By the way, Noomie Rapace looked like Leos frigid mother, there was never a hint that they finally found each other and gave their new love a chance, she is just an old hag what a terrible cast.Wassily also was a total miscast....the character was not developed at all, just a flat villain.This movie would have need a narrator I guess in order to cover all the shades of the story, just plain acting did not do the job.Do not waste your time, read the book (the books actually, because there are three of them with Leo)..
Almost nothing gets done in a structured way, the movie jumps a lot and it hardly closes a scene.Hardy has a very good performance, but the northamerican expressions are a problem in a soviet film.
Reading all the reviews on this I notice people either love it or hate it.Words like propaganda and stereotypes are thrown around quite a lot but this is just a movie!Well worth a visit to the cinema as its part thriller , part murder mystery with a history lesson thrown in.
The film could not have had a more refined cast with the likes of Tom Hardy, Naomi Rapace and Gary Oldman at work with an intelligent script that never loses it's focus.
Child 44 (2015) is an amazing movie featuring Noomi Rapace, Tom Hardy, and a lot more great actors and actresses.
The cinematography was amazing, it truly brought the feel of the 30's era to life, the actors and actresses pulled their weight in gold.For the largest part Child 44 has all of the attributes to be a perfectly made masterpiece of a film, If you hadn't had the time to watch this movie I certainly suggest it..
I usually tend to look forward to films based solely on the director, but this time I was excited about the cast: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, and Noomi Rapace.
Child 44 feels like one of those movies that came out during the Cold War trying to prove to the Western world how awful the Soviet communist regime was.
The accent issue isn't the greatest problem with this film however, the tone of the movie is inconsistent and there are several tonal shifts that simply make the story drag at times.
When another child victim is found there in similar conditions, Leo convinces Mikhail to look into it and they secretly begin investigating the case.The premise of the story is very interesting, but unfortunately this period piece takes its time to introduce each character.
Tom Hardy is great in his role and he alone almost makes the film worth recommending.
The acting is good as far as I could tell...if it weren't for all the forced russian accents.the story is a little lost in all the aspects the movie wants to cover and the character progression is forced.
Some better than others, of course.Maybe I just like Tom Hardy that much, but I though it was a good movie, overall, if you can forgive the fact that it jumps from genre to genre (quite clearly, actually).
Lets take a second here to ponder why someone would think it's OK to shoot a film in English with a fake Russian accent, if you want an "authentic feel" - as I've seen so many reviewers rave about - just shoot the damn thing in Russian and I'll praise the hell out of every single actor involved in this.As such it does a great disservice to the actors, the story and, I might add, insulting to any Russian speaking audience.I actually thought the movie was good which saddens me even more considering how the performances could have been without that idiotic idea..
On the whole, 'Child 44' isn't half as good as it deserved to be, but for Hardy alone, I'd recommend you to watch this film..
The movie is directed by Daniel Espinosa and stars, amongst others, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace.MGB Agent Leo Demidov (Hardy), discovers files containing several mysterious child deaths.