Customer Reviews

The Italian

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, let me say that it strikes me as wholly bizarre that anyone would review this film without having viewed it. Whatever your personal stake in the Russian adoption system is, you should probably air your opinions on it somewhere else, unless you've actually taken the time to view the film (see review below). The movie is absolutely stunning! I speak Russian, so I quite enjoyed the beautifully done dialogue and the rural dialect and accent of the children. The subtitles were well done: yes, one could quibble with some translations, but they captured the essence of the original Russian, which is not something many movies can say. Cinematically, this film is also beautiful: it captures the decay, poverty, and wretchedness of post-Soviet Russia perfectly, and does so in a way that is always moving and never cheap or exploitative. It also portrays the orphans themselves and their problems and choices in a way that is truly insightful. The story itself is also excellent, and the ending is satisfying without in any way being hackneyed or contrived. Moreover, the writing is superb. The characters are all complex, multi-faceted, and believable. No one is two-dimensional, and even the "villains" have some depth and even some sympathetic aspects. If you enjoy deep, rich, and complex characterizations about the problems of everyday life, you will love this movie. If your idea of a good movie is a series of explosions and shootouts, stay away!

As an adoptive parent of 2 Eastern European Children both in orphanages since birth, I found this movie to be a NEEDED movie to see for those who about to take the strange and unknown journey into International Adoption. It was pretty strange to watch the movie and have the street of the orphanage Vanya was looking for being the same name of the street our daughter's orphanage was on.

We had the rare opportunity of staying in the country we were adopting from for 31 days and lived in an apartment in the city, which was about 40 minutes from the Village our daughters came from. We also were able to visit other orphanages and a TB Sanitarium with a Russian friend who regularly visits the children.

We found the conditions portrayed in the movie to be accurate. When I had to use the toilet, I was led to the "guest toilet". It was an old decrpid shed with a bucket. The stench was so bad, I was willing to wait for a few more hours until we went back to our apartment. Our daughters did not have that privelege. Baths, once a week. Clothing? Old, dirty, holey, shoes too small, if at all, but big ole' smiles on all those little faces hoping that you will take them home. Looks of hopelessness, sadness, despair, no future, no hope. We sat and talk to a group of teens who wanted to know if they could come to America. Tears streamed down their faces as we spoke to them and answered their questions. We brought sanitary napkins for the girls, toilet paper, shampoo, soap, laundry soap. Many times they do without these basic things. They have no running water.
They eat sub standard food and many have permenant health problems because of it.

Both of our daugthers were told they would be killed or sold. They were terrified. They were not told this by other kids. They were told this by workers. This was portrayed in the movie.
Our daughters were abused in the orphanages. This was portrayed in the movie.
(If you really want to see the reality, read the Human Rights Report on Orphan Neglect )

THEN... the movie touches on the "commodity" issue. Adoption is legal in Russia and Eastern Europe. It takes HUGE amounts of frustrating paperwork and you come by invitation only. The money changing hands is NOT to purchase a child, but to charge for services: Paperwork translation, travel services etc. But it would be naive to think that there are not those unscrupulous facilitators who make big money off of desperate people.
There is HUGE corruption within the agencies that permit adoption. Russia permits independent adoption without the use of an agency, This waas portrayed in the movie.

All the children want their mommies. They dream of having their mothers. Vanya's desire to see his mother again is accurate. I like the end, which I will not mention here. As Vanya is writing to his friend to let him know that he is ok, hasn't been sold for body parts and is happy, you are left to wonder, is it true? False? It gives you the true sense of hopelessness that portrays the life of an orphan.

And for those skeptics. Yes there are propaganda orphanages, just to please foreigners.

Regardless of how accurately this film portrays the real circumstances of adoption in Russia, it is a totally absorbing cinematic experience, with a convincing portrayal of the ways children and teenagers actually respond to one another. Many of the children in the film, including some with speaking roles, are residents of a children's home near St. Petersburg.

But the main reason to see the film is the performance of the amazing Kolya Spiridonov in the lead role. He simply lights up the screen, and steals every scene he is in. I think it is one of the best performances by a child actor ever captured on film. Buy it!

Italianetz, or The Italian, is a moving story about a six-year old orphan named Vanya (the painfully adorable Kolya Spiridonov). When Vanya is told that he will be adopted by a loving couple from Italy, he becomes the envy of all the other orphans. He's excited himself to begin his new life, until the day the orphanage is paid a visit by another recently adopted orphan's mother. When Vanya has a conversation with the woman at a busstop, he feels his desire to find his own mother growing inside him.

As Vanya sets out to find his mother, he must first learn to read, in order to read his own personal file and see if he can find any information there. Another orphan, a young prostitute (Olga Shuvalova) teaches him to read against the wishes of the older kids. Once Vanya finds the address of a previous orphanage he was in, he sets out on an adventure of self-discovery. The orphanage managers try to find Vanya, following him across the country, but he will not be deterred in finding out the truth about his own mother before he is adopted.

The Italian is a film about the kindness, and unkindness, of strangers. The various people that Vanya meets along his journey reflect the different aspects of our society. Also, the point should be made, that adoption is not viewed in a negative light in this film. To the contrary, all the characters make it very clear that an orphan should feel very lucky to be adopted by a caring family. And the orphanage itself is shown as a sort of co-op where the older children take care of the younger children as miniature parental figures.

Kolya Spiridonov turns in an amazingly strong performance for such a young actor, and he is really the foundation of the entire film, though the rest of the actors are solid as well. We get so few Russian films in the United States that the fact that this movie is for sale at all should tip off most viewers that it's probably a high-quality film. That expectation doesn't disappoint.

'Italianetz' (THE ITALIAN) is a strong Russian film from the pen of Andrei Romanov under the direction of young artist Andrei Kravchuk - the kind of film that enlightens us about problems in Russia but also provides one of the more tender stories about a child's resilience on film.

Apparently in modern Russia there are orphanages for abandoned children which serve as repositories for adoption by needy parents throughout the world, adoptions brokered by savvy Russian sponsors who, despite the seeming heartlessness of their vocation, are doing a service in providing homes for these unwanted children. The orphanages depicted in THE ITALIAN are not of the Charles Dickens' workhouse place types, but rather are homes run by kind people who encourage and support the children in a loving way.

Vanya Solntsev (Kolya Spiridonov) is a six-year-old orphan who has just been selected for adoption by an Italian couple visiting his orphanage. At first happy about his 'good fortune', he soon encounters a distraught mother (Dariya Lesnikova) looking for her own abandoned son and Vanya longs to return to his own birth mother. He is taught to read by a kind prostitute Irka (Olga Shuvalova) enabling him to search the orphanage files to discover the whereabouts of his birth mother. Much against the advice of his fellow orphans and those rowdy boys with whom he associates outside the orphanage, Vanya sets out to find his mother and in hot pursuit are the brokers for the adoption and the police. He hides, encounters all manner of obstacles and misfortunes on his journey, but at last he discovers his birth mother and the film ends with one of the more tender concepts imaginable.

The cinematography by Aleksandr Burov is moody and captures the feeling of peril Vanya encounters. In one of the more original musical scores for film Aleksandr Knaifel has elected to compose themes played solely on the high treble keys of the piano, on the xylophone and on bells: the feeling is one suggesting the small stature of the children, making their views the more important ones of the story. The cast is uniformly outstanding with special credit going to the warmth of the performance by young Kolya Spiridonov. Recommended for all audiences. In Russian, Italian, some English with subtitles. Grady Harp, May 07

I don't think we should disregard an essential aspect of a movie (as suggested in other reviews) such as the storyline and message in providing others here with an honest and complete review. As an avid film enthusiast and someone who knows Russians and Russian adoption, I agree 100% that this is a brilliantly filmed and acted piece; however, I believe that the storyline was extremely biased and that, in my opinion, is a critical part of the entire product that should be discussed. After all, I believe that is what the director intended us to do. I would recommend others to watch it because it is indeed a masterpiece as far as cinematography and acting goes; and the little boy's curiosity and determination is very real and beautifully acted. However, I would also challenge others to reflect on the overall message being delivered and to take that with a grain of salt.

The prospective adoptive family come accross as silly, irrelevant characters who are basically purchasing a child. The film portrays the Russian adoption process strictly as a business in which birth mothers appear to be unwilling participants. This view of the situation of orphans in Russia creates a fantasy world for orphans everywhere in which birth mothers are anxiously waiting to "recover" the child they (unwillinglly and/or unwittingly? according to the director) gave up. What the film failed to show is the story that led to Vanya being placed for adoption. Telling Vanya's story from its true beginning (and staying true to the situation in Russia) would have provided a more realistic and complete look.

"The Italian" is a touching tale of a six-year-old Russian orphan who goes in search of the mother who gave him to a foundling home when he was just an infant.

Vanya has spent virtually his entire life growing up in a substandard orphanage run by an alcoholic director and a cold-hearted administrator. The children there live in virtual squalor with no effort on the part of the leaders to properly instruct or educate them. The future for most of these youngsters is a bleak one indeed, with a life of petty thievery and/or prostitution the most likely outcome for any of them not fortunate enough to catch the eye of some prospective, loving parent. Yet, as the movie begins, young Vanya's personal nightmare seems to be coming to an end as a kind Italian couple has come to Russia with the intention of adopting Vanya and taking him back to Italy with them. However, before the proper papers can be signed, the boy, sensing he must act quickly before it is too late, sets off on a long, arduous journey to see if he can find the mother who abandoned him as a baby.

"The Italian" is a compelling slice-of-life drama that has a great deal to say not only about the appalling conditions faced by orphans in Russia today, but about the determination of the human spirit and the need for love that exists at the center of every human heart. Director Andrei Kravchuk brings a near-documentary quality to the film, as he focuses his camera on the details of everyday life in the orphanage and the countryside through which Vanya travels. This air of naturalism extends to the actors as well, particularly young Kolya Spiridonov, who, as Vanya, gives a performance that can only be termed extraordinary and heartbreaking. After this film and the brilliant "The Return," I'm convinced that Russia has some of the finest child actors in the business. Indeed, there is nothing less than a superb performance in the entire film.

"The Italian" is a film tuned to the realities of life in a harsh environment, where cruel and violent deeds often share the stage with acts of random kindness. Vanya's epic adventure provides more than ample opportunity for him to experience both, but it is the magnanimity he encounters at the hands of strangers that lingers longest in memory.

Forget about the setting. This is a movie about the courage, confidence and resilience of childhood. An astounding performance by the lead character and a magical tale full of hope.

This 2007 Russian film takes place in 2002, and the main setting is a Russian orphanage. Now, generally we are privy to orphanages that are understaffed, crowded, dirty, and filled with numb or crying babies. But here, we have the older children, and young teens who aren't adoption material. The conditions of the orphanage are like one might assume, squalid, cold, dreary, and a place where the young girls sell themselves, a youth gang, corrupt and greedy officials.

A six-year old boy has been selected for the pending adoption to an Italian family. The adoption is a dream come true, the choice of a lifetime, and they nickname him The Italian. But the adorable child has a mission to accomplish, to see his biological mother. It's here that he must scheme to leave the orphanage, travel by train, elude the staff who fears they will lose much money for the pending adoption. Vanya sets out to find the home where his mother lives. You can follow his journey, root for him, feel for the sweetness and innocence he has. The film is fast-paced, lot of events happening, and very suspenseful.

It's no surprise that children in foreign film can do some remarkable work, and this child was wonderful. This was director Andrei Kravchuk feature film debut. The film is based on a true story of a Russian boy abandoned in the orphanage and he goes in search of his mother. The child, born in 1995, has starred in several movies.

This is a bittersweet movie, observing the chilling depiction of a Russian orphanage, but it is not surprising. But see this innocent child caught up between the dream of a lifetime or the choice of now. ....Rizzo

Here we have the heart-rending tale of a little Russian boy's quest to find his mother.

Six year old Vanya lives in an orphanage. In Russia, and much of eastern Europe, such places are over-flowing with scores of unwanted and abandoned children. In these places, they are frequently abused, neglected, and exploited. Education opportunites are gravely lacking in these facilities. In fact, they lack most of the basic necessities of day to day living. All this is portrayed in this outstanding film.

Vanya, a brave and innocent soul, has misgivings about his impending adoption by a wealthy Italian family. He learns that his real mother still lives in the city where he was born. Exhibiting the Russian capacity for suffering and hardship, Vanya makes his way by train and foot across the decrepit urban landscape. Vanya encounters people both malevolent and benign as he embarks on his desperate search.