Writer & Director: Pavel Chukhrai
Tolyan: Vladimir Mashkow
Katya: Ekaterina Rednikova
Sanya: Misha Philipchuk
Director of Photography: Valdimir Klimov
(A Russian/French Co-Production - Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 1998 Academy Awards) |
The Russian film "The Thief" was one of the nominees for best foreign language film in this year's Academy Awards. It is a film that works on so many different layers that you keep returning to it again and again and finding new meanings in it. Rather like a Shakespeare play or a really good novel, it sets the imagination going and resonates beyond the narrow confines of its central narrative.
In the opening sequence we see a harshly beautiful, bleak, winter landscape with a young woman trudging alone along a muddy road. She stops to give birth by the side of the road. We then jump forward in time to 1952.
One day, whilst travelling by train, mother and son meet a charming and handsome soldier. The mother, Katya, is instantly attracted to Tolyan and the three join together as a family in an effort to find accommodation. It is clear that a soldier earns a particular trust and respect in this society and a family is more readily accepted than a single woman and child.
The story is told from the perspective of 6 year old Sanya. He has never known his father, who died before he was born, and is jealous of the relationship between Tolyan and his mother, a relationship which increasingly excludes him. At the same time Sanya is attracted to Tolyan as a man he can learn from.
But Tolyan is not what he pretends to be. He uses his charms to steal from the people they live with and seduces both Katya and Sanya into helping him.
The three central performances are excellent. The viewer understands the attractiveness of Tolyan and believes in Katya's love for him. Seven year old Misha Philpchuk as Sanya is wonderful, his emotions ranging from wide-eyed innocence and admiration, through a desperate desire to please, to fear, anger, frustration, hatred and loss.
As the "family" travels from rooming house to rooming house we briefly meet a host of fascinating characters, each struggling to rebuild their lives after the destruction of the war. Glimpsed fleetingly we nevertheless care about them and are impressed by their resilience and determination to celebrate life whatever the hardships they face.
The cinematography is truly beautiful and adds another dimension to this moving story about life, love and survival.
"The Thief" is an example of filmmaking at its best, creating images and characters that touch your emotions and offer insights into society, in this case not our own but that of post-war Russia.
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