SYNOPSICS
Italyanets (2005) is a Russian,Italian,English movie. Andrey Kravchuk has directed this movie. Nikolay Spiridonov,Mariya Kuznetsova,Nikolay Reutov,Yuriy Itskov are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2005. Italyanets (2005) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Vanya is a 6 year old orphan living in a rundown orphanage in a remote Russian village. For Vanya and the other children, life is without hope, unless, of course, they are adopted by wealthy foreigners. For Vanya, hope comes in the form of an Italian couple. But while arrangements are being made an incident occurs when the mother of another child appears, seeking her son. Vanya begins to wonder what would happen if his own mother reappeared, and he was living in Italy.With the assistance of older children, Vanya is able to access his records and find the possible whereabouts of his mother. He escapes and travels across the country, pursued by the adoption agents.
More
Italyanets (2005) Reviews
young orphan faces life's difficulties and challenges to find who he really is.
this was one of the best movies i have seen in a long time. not only was kolya spiridov magnificent, every actor young and old were intense. the lyricism of this movie is simply magnificent. i felt the cold, the dampness, the starkness and disagreeing completely with someone else's comment on this movie, i found the score perfect. economical, to the point, letting us feel the story without suggesting it for us as Hollywood tends to do. also... directed superbly where the main character doesn't get cheap emotions out of us by making us 'cry' by crying. we suffer his plight a great deal more as he goes through the film just as is. superb, intricate, inspired. this film deserves great recognition and all the accolades a great movie should ever get. i recommend it greatly.
A truly beautiful film
A truly beautiful, heart wrenching film 'The Italian' moved me so very much. Surely a filmmaker sets out to touch his audience and make them feel the pain of his or her characters and certainly we are drawn straight into the little heart of the young, innocent and passionate Vanya. I can not imagine a soul in the audience that would not want to instantly wrap Vanya in their arms to protect him and then take him home with them! The Italian is shot against a harsh cold Russian landscape and yet there is a certain love between the orphans at the orphanage,who only have each other to love and protect them and keep them on the right track. Certainly Italy is seen as the land of warmth, love and opportunity in comparison. But the real warmth and love in this film resonates from this wonderful little actor behind Vanya. He could not be much older than the 6yr old he plays and yet he was able to convey more emotion, devastation and warmth than many of the adult actors i have watched of late. Highly recommended!!!
A Film of Great Beauty, Sadness and Heart
I saw "The Italian" with a friend I have known for 40 years. He has two sons, now grown up. I could only think about how lucky they are. We and the entire audience were deeply affected by this story of the effects of poverty, abandonment, the market for children, and the inexplicable drive of boys to return to their mothers, even when they have been sent away by them. The performance of the little boy who plays the central character is astonishing, absolutely remarkable. The director is a magician. The desolation of person and of place is captured in such a way that disbelief is almost total that such things can still be ongoing in this world of great wealth, albeit selectively concentrated . All of the actors, all little boys, two young girls and a few young boys in their teens--all are so engaging that we are stunned by the loss their characters and the real little boys whose story the writer and director tell suffer. This is 2007, the film was finished in 2005 and set only three years earlier. We wonder, How can this happen to little boys, and girls? And what effects follow? We see some of those effects in the older children. Then one recalls that this sort of thing is not limited to Russia but is common here in the States and all over the world a reality--the turning of an unwanted life into dross by neglect and abandonment. Every mother and father should see this film and then go to their son and tell him how much they love him, and think about little boys languishing in orphanages. One wants to do something after seeing this film, anything to relieve such boys of their horrific fate. Their tenderness for each other is stressed by the filmmakers. This is something that bears remembering. When kids aren't taken care of, they do find ways of caring for each other. They are resourceful in face of neglect, punishments, indifference, poverty. But many fall to pieces.... That now and again one little boy MAY NOT have been destroyed utterly in this way, as suggested in this film, is the source of the film's beauty. The face of the little boy here is unforgettable. The suggestion of a life having been wasted reflects and is reflected by the setting. One can only ope that the film will be widely seen.
Contemporary time setting. Little boy's journey who lives in Russia, is supposed to be adopted by an Italian family.
This film is an absolute treasure! It is not only well done, and I don't mean super effects or huge budget, but well done from a true Cinematic and directorial approach, it also has a very interesting script. Most importantly, this film has a soul; it adds humanity to our consciousness, which is rare in this "postmodern" age we live in. Acting is excellent especially if you take under consideration that most of the characters are children. Like any great film, it speaks of the personal story and goes beyond, dealing with bigger issues. Moreover, this film follows the great Russian film tradition, reminded me of Tarkovsky, even though the style is very different, and more recent film "The Return" which came out of Russia couple years ago and won international awards.
one boy's odyssey
"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.