The Thief (1997 film)
The Thief (, "Vor") is a 1997 Russian drama film written and directed by Pavel Chukhray. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and won the Nika Award for Best Picture and Best Directing. Also winner of the International Youth Jury's prize, the President of the Italian Senate's Gold Medal, and the UNICEF Award at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. The film is about a young woman, Katya (Yekaterina Rednikova), and her 6-year-old son Sanya (Misha Philipchuk), who, in 1952, meet a veteran Soviet officer named Tolyan (Vladimir  Mashkov). Katya falls in love with Tolyan, who turns out to be a small time criminal, but who also becomes a father figure to Sanya. Plot. Katya, a poor and desperate widow, and her young son Sanya try to survive in the post-World War II Soviet Union during the early 1950s. While on a train, the two meet a handsome, rakish officer, Tolyan, who seduces the mother. Katya stays with Tolyan, who pretends to be her husband and acts as a stepfather to Sanya, who is at first highly distrustful of the man, resenting his presence and authority. There  are several allusions to Hamlet. Through his good looks, apparent generosity, and his status as a war veteran, Tolyan charms his way into a variety of situations that enable him to rob people. Katya and Sanya both realize the harsh and increasingly abusive nature of the new head of their family, but, although alarmed, neither mother nor child seem willing to leave the man. The extent of Tolyan's love for his new family remains ambiguous throughout the film and provides one of the more compelling elements of the story. Reception. Critical response. "The Thief" has an approval rating of  88% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 24 reviews, and an average rating of 6.99/10.The website's critical consensus states,"As beautiful to look at as it is thought-provoking, "The Thief" interrogates Europe's past through the experiences of a family in crisis".