Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Child 44 Blu-ray Movie Review

Surviving in Soviet Russia can be murder.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 31, 2015

Paranoia fairly drips from every corner of Child 44’s often squalid mid-century Soviet Union ambience. A lot has been written about the general zeitgeist in America during the post-war period, especially with regard to the nascent Cold War and our paranoia, notably the anti-Communist fervor that found its most iconic expositor in one Joseph McCarthy, but the ironic thing that Child 44 details is that almost exactly the same climate prevailed in our erstwhile global nemesis. The Soviet government insisted the “other” system (in this case, capitalism) was rife with corruption and designs on absolute power, and that the collectivist ethos was obviously the only “true” way forward. Flip that thesis on its head, and the American attitude toward Communism and Soviet Russia was virtually identical. Freedom loving westerners may claim (and perhaps rightfully so, at least relatively speaking) that “Uncle Joe” Stalin’s Soviet Union was a good deal more totalitarian than even the worst excesses of the United States’ anti-Soviet reactions, but students of history may find some curious parallels between the two global superpowers, at least in terms of where they found themselves “emotionally”, generally speaking, in the wake of the defeat of Nazism. Child 44 has an absolutely fascinating premise as encapsulated in the intriguing epigram which starts the film: There can be no murder in paradise. Stalin’s contention was that only outmoded systems like Capitalism fostered deviant behaviors like murder and (not to put too fine a point on it) homosexuality, and that the Soviet Utopia simply could not experience such travails. That decree from on high becomes increasingly problematic for a once up and coming Ministry of State Security (otherwise known as the MGB) officer named Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) who gets sucked into a supposedly “open and shut” case dealing with the ostensibly accidental death of Demidov’s godson, a little boy belonging to Demidov’s war buddy Alexei Andreyev (Fares Fares). Andreyev and his distraught wife are absolutely sure their young child was murdered, not killed accidentally by a passing train, an opinion which jeopardizes Andreyev’s career and indeed the whole family’s life.

Before what turns out to be the serial killings of little boys can unfold, Child 44 deals with a couple of preludes, all of which (of course) play into the unfolding of the plot. Demidov's tragic childhood is elided, where it's shown he's the orphaned victim of some of Stalin's early excesses. Later, in 1945, Demidov is part of the Soviet force which takes Berlin, and he finds himself an unexpected symbol of Soviet success when he’s photographed lifting a flag over the Reichstag. The actual battle has revealed not just Demidov’s heroism, but the cowardice of his crony Vasili Nikitin (Joel Kinnaman). In 1953 Moscow, Demidov, now a secret police commander, regales an audience with his stories of courting his wife Raisa (Noomi Rapace). Sometime later, Demidov is tasked with hunting down a traitor, a dentist whose “crimes” against the Soviet empire aren’t detailed. Demidov does find the guy, but some adrenaline fueled idiocy on the part of Vasili ends up orphaning two innocent little girls.

It may already be apparent by this point that Child 44’s plot is overstuffed with any number of melodramatic elements, but (as some good old fashioned Capitalist television commercials have been known to say) “wait, you also get”: once the dentist-traitor has been brought to the secret police headquarters, he’s of course tortured to give up more names in the unspecified conspiracy. Demidov is distressed to learn that Raisa is one of the named, and even more distressed when he’s given the job of figuring out whether or not Raisa is indeed a traitor to the homeland. But even that is not enough overheating for Child 44’s florid plotting. Raisa soon divulges she’s pregnant, and Demidov and Raisa also soon find themselves on a slow train to Siberia (well, not really, but figuratively speaking). Even with all of this misery, the rampant child killings continue, though the official word, including from Demidov’s new superior General Nesterov (Gary Oldman) is that murders simply “don’t happen” in the Soviet Union.

Not to be too cheeky about it, but Child 44 is obviously not exactly a cheery filmgoing experience. Its stifling atmosphere is one of its chief accomplishments, but it’s also something that becomes increasingly difficult to sit through as the film continues. So much trauma is aimed squarely at Demidov as the film unfolds that he seems to be less a Soviet Everyman than some weird Russian form of Job. The film probably has too many competing elements to ever fully develop any of them, something that becomes more than obvious when the whole “mystery” revolving around who is killing the kids is revealed relatively early in the film (although the killer’s motivations are left largely unexplored). The whole subplot with Raisa’s supposed treason is also seriously flawed, never fully explicated and then just left hanging as if screenwriter Richard Price (adapting Tom Rob Smith’s novel) simply decided he had bigger (or at least other) fish to fry.

If ultimately too convoluted (and at times simple minded) for its own good, Child 44 develops a considerable amount of tension and angst simply due to its oppressive atmosphere and some impressive performances, especially by Hardy who (equipped with a very thick “Russian” accent) makes Demidov a tortured hero who is trying to do the right thing in very difficult circumstances. The film ultimately devolves into a literal wrestling match in the mud, capped by a curious coda which attempts to knit at least a couple of the disparate plot strands together. The drab world of 1950s Soviet Russia would seem to preclude any true happy endings, but Child 44 attempts to make the case that maybe things aren’t so bad after all. Unfortunately after the nonstop trauma and tragedy that befall Demidov throughout the film, it’s a losing proposition.

Child 44 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Child 44 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Shot on film with a variety of Arricams, Child 44 has an intentionally desaturated appearance a great deal of the time which reinforces the dull gray squalor of mid- century Soviet Russia. A lot of the film is quite dark (as can easily be seen in many of the screencaptures accompanying this review), a choice which deprives many scenes of much in the way of shadow detail and even general detail at times. A few isolated moments have been rather curiously color graded, including some of the most aggressive yellow I've personally encountered (in a brief early scene at the opera). While the palette never pops in any meaningful way, the midrange tones which are frequently on display are interesting and emotionally relevant, helping to subliminally set the table for all the misery which unfolds. A couple of uncharacteristic "bright spots" occasionally unfold, including a luminous summer day sequence where Demidov tracks down the dentist (see screenshot 3). Outdoor scenes offer decent depth of field, though some CGI, notably establishing shots detailing Moscow and other enclaves, look pretty minimalistic and soft. Close-ups often offer well above average amounts of detail, but the film's muted lighting schemes tend to work against this at least some of the time. There are no issues with image instability and no problems with compression artifacts despite the generally dank demeanor of much of the film.

Child 44 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Child 44's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 has moments of fantastic bombast and immersion, including the battle scene which begins the film, but then retreats to a somewhat more staid and center focused presentation once the film segues to straight dialogue scenes. There is still nice attention paid to ambient environmental sounds in any case, whether that be the clatter of a train station or the light breezes blowing through a field. Jon Ekstrand's score is well positioned throughout the surrounds and lends an added moodiness to the already gloomy film. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range appealingly wide on this problem free track.

Child 44 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Reflections of History: Recreating the World of Child 44 (1080p; 8:18) is a decent EPK with several interviews and an emphasis on production design.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:16)

Child 44 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Child 44 never quite hangs together dramatically, despite some impressive performances and an overall stifling mood which becomes downright suffocating as the film progresses. Certainly a case of the parts being greater than the whole, Child 44 has an intriguing premise which is at least partially wasted by too many sidebars that only add to Demidov's struggles. Still, for those who are willing to overlook some narrative stumbles in order to gain access to a virtually palpable ambience and great acting, Child 44 comes Recommended.