Child 44: Tale of treachery, murder and political misery

Child 44 is a film based on the novel of the same title by British author, Tom Rob Smith.

Set in the early 1950s, during the Stalin Soviet Union and when Nazi Germany broke the non-aggression treaty, this film tells the story of the challenging times of war.

Like any Soviet war novel, Child 44 encapsulates the definition of betrayal within the Soviet intelligence agency -- the Ministry for State Security or MGB.

This film opens with the story of an orphan who endured the hardship of childhood during war times and later grows up to become a decorated and intimidating MGB Agent Leo Demidov, played by Tom Hardy.

Hardy plays the ‘good soldier’ in this film, a disgraced war hero searching for the bad guy. There are quite a number of bad guys in the movie.

The first is heartless, treacherous womaniser, Vasili (Joel Kinnaman), then comes Leo’s callous, subversive-aggressive boss, Major Kuzmin (Vincent Cassel) and a mass murderer, Vlademir Malevich (Paddy Considine) who preys on young men.

After a long stretch of gloomy and dark misery of murders which includes the killing of boys, Leo and his wife, Raisa (Naomi Rapace) were exiled to a remote place called Volsk. Leo was banished from the agency for failure to apprehend a suspected traitor who is his very own wife.

Leo’s demotion got him to work with General Nesterov (Gary Oldman) where together, they began to solve the murders of 44 children who were all similarly killed, sexually scarred and drowned mysteriously.

Swedish film director, Jorge Daniel Espinosa, who directed Safe House in 2012, in a sombre tone, for over two hours, focuses on the intensity of war crimes and the underlying messages of betrayal and treachery.

Though, to me, there was no any feel-good moments in this movie, it was indeed a mind-boggling film that questions who the bigger devil is in this movie. Could it be the serial killer slash paedophile on a hunting spree for children? Or the cruel banishment of Soviet police’s very own decorated agents that drive betrayal?

Aside from the dark and gloomy look and feel of this whole film, viewers must be warned that heavy Russian accent runs solidly throughout the movie, making this movie (in my personal view) a very torpid film to watch.

Directed by: Daniel Espinosa

Written by: Richard Price (screenplay), Tom Rob Smith (novel)

Cast: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman, Naomi Rapace.

Release date: April 17, 2015