Russian kids are gutsy
This concerns my latest venture with Netflix (of which this is my first record) about the recent Russian movie whose title translates to "The Italian." It's about a kid named Vanya (short for Ivan) who almost gets adopted by an Italian couple (and thus earns 'the Italian' as a nickname among his fellow orphans), and then realizes that his real mother might still be out there if she abandoned him. So of course he runs away and tries to find her.
There are two scenes in this movie that suggest some interesting thoughts.
1) A scene in which, after Vanya is beaten by the older kids, one of their friends, the very pretty red-haired Irka (who employs herself as a prostitute but is notably the most noble character in the story) comforts him as he is crying in bed. A poignant shot of her lying on his bed hugging this vulnerable shirtless boy suggests her profession, but more importantly implies that she sees this relationship as her chance to be the mother, a role she doesn't ever see herself playing.
2) After running from a man on and off through several scenes, Vanya, now cornered, grabs a glass bottle near him, threatens to kill the man if he gets closer, and then proceeds to slash at his own arm to show that he is not afraid. This action has some unexpected consequences, and his motion is sudden and shocking. In the next scene he is asked "where he learned such thief stuff?" and told to cut it out. Powerful stuff.
Unfortunately, I can't honestly say that the rest of the movie lived up to those (and a couple other) prominent scenes, and as little boys do and should do, the movie wandered a little too much for my mostly-adult mind. I give it somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars out of 5.
There are two scenes in this movie that suggest some interesting thoughts.
1) A scene in which, after Vanya is beaten by the older kids, one of their friends, the very pretty red-haired Irka (who employs herself as a prostitute but is notably the most noble character in the story) comforts him as he is crying in bed. A poignant shot of her lying on his bed hugging this vulnerable shirtless boy suggests her profession, but more importantly implies that she sees this relationship as her chance to be the mother, a role she doesn't ever see herself playing.
2) After running from a man on and off through several scenes, Vanya, now cornered, grabs a glass bottle near him, threatens to kill the man if he gets closer, and then proceeds to slash at his own arm to show that he is not afraid. This action has some unexpected consequences, and his motion is sudden and shocking. In the next scene he is asked "where he learned such thief stuff?" and told to cut it out. Powerful stuff.
Unfortunately, I can't honestly say that the rest of the movie lived up to those (and a couple other) prominent scenes, and as little boys do and should do, the movie wandered a little too much for my mostly-adult mind. I give it somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars out of 5.