THE ITALIAN/ ITALIANETS

Russia, 2005, 90 minutes, Colour.
Kilya Spiridov.
Directed by Andrei Kravchuk.

An emotional film about children from Russia. It has found audiences outside Russia and won a number of awards at children’s festivals. It was the SIGNIS winner at the 2007 Hong Kong Festival.

The Italian seems something of a misleading name for a Russian film. The reason for the title is that at the orphanage where young Vanya lives there is a scheme to raise money through adoptions to foreign couples. The children dream, of course, about being adopted. When an Italian couple arrives and chooses Vanya, there is a time delay for the process. And, in that meantime, Vanya sees another child find his real mother. Vanya wonders whether he could find his mother.

The main part of the film is Vanya’s attempts to find his mother. His trying to read so that he can look at his own documents – and the difficulty of getting access to those. There is his flight from the orphanage and his using his wits to survive on the streets until he arrives at the address he has found. And, for some time, he eludes the orphanage authorities who want him back for the deal with the Italians.

Kolya Spiridov is one of those screen charmers who draw such an emotional response from the audience that his being on screen commands attention.

Italy is a land of sunshine – and a place for dreams. Russia, the Russia of this film, is cold, dark and run-down. The film’s sometimes austere style is in the manner of the great Russian cinema masters which gives it a mature quality even as the plot focuses on the little boy and other children.