This is a story of a boy living in an orphanage within the realm of Mother Russia. He finds himself about to be adopted by a couple from Italy (and his fellow inmates dub him "the italian"). The story, although not very well told,...
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This is a story of a boy living in an orphanage within the realm of Mother Russia. He finds himself about to be adopted by a couple from Italy (and his fellow inmates dub him "the italian"). The story, although not very well told, tries to play on the corruption of the adoption system in Russia. The weak social commentary tries with myopic vision to show that anyone, from anywhere, can come to Russia and with enough money can have any child they want. The story doesn't take this serious enough and does a terrible job of giving us the correct impressions of just how terrible it is. The reason for its failure here is because the story is focused on the boy and all of the side characters (which there are a lot of), which would be a good thing if the boy was more well written with deeper intentions, but his story is weak at best and so overly obvious that you know what every single move of his is going to yield.
The acting is good, especially from the younger actors. I felt sorry for the adults because their parts were so two-dimensional that at times I really felt like I was watching a bad remake of Le Mis.
A lot more time could have been given to how poorly the children are treated in the orphanage versus so much time spent on the chase.
Overall though, there are moments that are very well played and bring to life the corner of this grand story, yet they never quit pan out. It is a good little story worthy of seeing.