Product Details

• Actors: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, F. Murray Abraham, Richard Roxburgh, Rachel Griffiths
• Directors: Peter Duncan (II)
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Miramax
• VHS Release Date: April 6, 1999
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304707002
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,486 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Art House & International > By Country > Australia & New Zealand

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Australia's most consistently fascinating export, Judy Davis has made a career of playing intriguingly high-strung women with a hilariously icy edge. Here, she plays the leader of Australia's Communist Party in the early 1950s whose struggles to keep the party alive are rewarded with a trip to Russia to meet Stalin himself (F. Murray Abraham). The meeting turns into a seduction, and she returns to Australia carrying Stalin's love child. So it's no surprise when her son Joe (Richard Roxburgh) grows up to be a political rabble-rouser, bringing the country to the brink of disaster. Filmed in mockumentary fashion by writer-director Peter Duncan, the film is never quite as funny as you wish it would be, but works as well as it does because of the performances by Rush and, particularly, Davis. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tears of Laughter and Tears of Sadness, November 26, 1999

By	Petro (Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States) - See all my reviews

I felt this movie is one of the best films I have ever seen in my life. As a Communist, I first assumed the movie was just a farce of stalinist Russia. Throughout the first 30 minutes, I laughed a lot. I thought the notion of some-one as evil as Stalin singing and dancing is funny, to me. I really felt with the main charrecter and her ideology, except her love of Stalin, and was happy that she finally realises he was evil. At the end, the Son (concieved by Stalin) turns into his father, and proclaims that he is doing the work of the Revolution. It gives a good example of Stalin's acts and how they ruined Lenin's Russia.

Children of the Revolution is a brilliant film, and Leninists and true Communists can plainly see this.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The difference a moustache can make, January 10, 2002

By	Alessandro Bruno (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an extremely original and well made farce. the film is generally comical but there are some tragic overtones throughout. The story of the idealist leader of the Australian communists earns a trip to meet Stalin in Moscow. The visit provides the setting for some of the funniest moments in the film. The idea of Stalin dancing and singing is funny in itself, imagine watching it realized on screen. But this comical interlude provides the crucial elemnt of the plot, the conception of Stalin's son. His identity is kept secret by his mother, but through a series of fortuitous circumstances Joe (thta's his name palyed by Roxburgh) becomes a union leader and organizes the police force. Hints are given throughout his childhood, he loves handcuffs for instance - leading to a steamy scene with a seduced policewoman. as a result of an 'accident' he has to grow a moustache and discovers his true personality after this event. There is sadness also, but I felt it beyond the plot or film itself. The mockery is certainly funny but it's undeniable that many idealists were betrayed by Stalin and his unbound evil. Communism in the Soviet union (and elsewhere) might have developed differently had Stalin not hijacked it. Now we're left with no alternatives and embarking on a dangerous course of increasing inequality. The film ironizes and does an excellent job (Judy Davis' excellent acting apart) of showing the demoralization of an idealist who has to face the sad reality and the poor 'loves' of the past. I saw the film twice and remember it with an ironic smile. Highly recommended

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wicked, July 20, 2000

By	Forster "babt" - See all my reviews

A real find. The film starts out as a broad satire (perhaps just a bit too broad), then sharpens to a steely point in the second half.Judy Davis has never been more ferocious (and that's really saying something). A romp, but one that leaves bruises. Grab it.