CHILD 44

UK/Czech Republic, 2015, 137 minutes, Colour.
Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke, Vincent Cassel, Charles Dance, Tara Fitzgerald.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa.

Child 44 is a very serious drama. It is based on novels by Tom Rob Smith. It has been directed by Swedish Daniel Espinosa (Easy Money and, internationally, Safe House and the science fiction, Life).

The film opens with the famine in Ukraine in 1932, focusing on a young boy who is an orphan who then is seen triumphing in the Russian army at the downfall of Berlin. The scene moves to 1953, the end of the Stalinist era. The young man is now an official, a detective. He is also involved with a teacher, Noomi Rapace.

One of the slogans of the Stalinist era is that in Paradise there are no murders. When some young children are abused and killed, this is classified as an accident. This happens to one of the young man’s closest friends, Fares Fares, and in the investigations, headed by Vincent Cassel and assisted by a rather vengeful Joel Kinnaman, the young man is demoted to a country town, under the command of Gary Oldman.

There are more child murders and the audience is then shown the perpetrator, played by Paddy Considine, a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany and affected by their medical experiments.

The film has the young man take a stand, his wife having to make decisions to support him, the buildup to a confrontation with the killer as well as with the vengeful military associate.

Sombre material – and an unexpected venture into the Stalinist and post-Stalinist Russia.

1. Soviet and Russian history? Based on novels? Transferring to the screen, the scope? Politics, crime? Personal stories?

2. Ukraine in the 1930s, the visualising of the famine, the information about its extent, the statistics? The children, the orphans? Leo, starving, his name, the background?

3. Berlin, 1945, the fierce battle? The Soviet flag, being raised, the man with all the watches, Leo and Alexei and their presence? Reputation?

4. 1953, the Stalinist regime, Stalin’s death? Harshness, poverty, drab living? “No murder in Paradise�? The Politburo, spies and the control, exercise of violence, traitors and denunciations, tortures and confessions? Executions?

5. Tom Hardy as Leo, his life, reputation, work as an official? Detection? His personality, his meeting with Raisa, the meal, the discussions, the bonding, her story, her telling him the wrong name? The relationship, marriage? The parents, the meal, the discussions, the possibilities for denunciation?

6. The Brodsky episode, the interrogation in the village, the interviews, Vasili shooting the parents, leaving the children, the clash with Leo? Leo chasing Brodsky, the fight, the knife? Brodsky and his arrest, going to prison, wanting to die, not naming names, the truth serum, naming names, in the courtyard, his being shot?

7. Raisa, teaching, Brodsky giving her name? The fact that school? The relationship with Leo?

8. The city, working with Leo, ambitious, relentless? His relationship with Major Kuzman? Their exercise of power, Brodsky, denunciations, confessions, their plans for Leo? Kuzman, his control, discussions with Leo, Brodsky and the denunciation of Raisa? His having to announce to Alexei the death of his son? The visit? Compassion?

9. The visualising of the boy, playing near the railway, his dead body, the wounds, the autopsy? The opinion of the doctors? The fact that there were no murders? Designation as accidents? Alexei and his family accepting this? Sadness? The further deaths?

10. Leo, his decisions, Raisa and the tension, the school, the attack, the official, his being bashed over the head with the book – the later consulting him, finding the book with the bloodstains? The fight with Leo and his death?

11. Leo, the need to move, with Raisa and her decision? Travelling by train to Volstok? Getting out of Moscow, his role, demotion? The poor accommodation? The ugly school and rooms? Leo and his interview with Nesteroff? Sitting down conditions? Local authority in Vostok?

12. Nesteroff, strong, control, his wife, children, fears? Participating in the investigation? Growing trust for Leo?

13. The introduction of the killer, his approaching the boys, their discussions, talk, promises, killing them? The number of children? The statistics? His clubfoot, his personality, working in the factory?

14. The corpses, the examination, the opinions of the doctors? Leo and his discussions with the general? The effect on Leo? Working out the centring on Rostov?

15. The reputation of the killer, surgical precision and background?

16. Leo, Raisa, the clashes, her pregnancy and then her not being pregnant? The tensions and arguments? Her wanting to leave? His promises, wanting her to be free, his love for her? The going to Moscow, continuing the investigation?

17. Leo going to visit Alexei, the continued denial about the boy? Alexei going to visit Vasili, the information, the discussion, Vasili shooting him?

18. Leo and Raisa returning to Rostov? Nesteroff and Leo? His wife’s fears? The factory, the files, identifying the killer?

19. The chase into the forest, the killer, his knowledge of Leo, sharing the Ukrainian background, his story, the Nazis and the treatment of him during the war, surgery training in the field, whether he was a German spy or not? The fight, his death?

20. Vasili, pursuing Leo, the death of the killer? Raisa and Leo, the fight with Vasili? Their being wounded, his death?

21. Leo, the recovery, the interview with the general, the discussions about the motivation of the killer, the theories, German spy? Language and twists? Political discussions and speech? Leo and his future? A glimpse of Soviet history?