The Italian, one of the best movies so far this year, follows Vanya (Kolya Spiridonov), a young boy in an orphanage in rural Russia. At the outset, an Italian couple decides to adopt him; the remainder of the film follows Vanya in his final days as an orphan, struggling over whether his real mother might try to find him after he goes to Italy. He eventually goes on a quest to find her.
While it primarily focuses on the problems associated with being an orphan, The Italian also shows the societal troubles in a brutally grim post-Soviet Russia, amounting to a condemnation of capitalism. Nobody seems to have a truly happy life in this film, and capitalism, according to the filmmakers, is the cause. The director and writer portray the Russian adoption industry as more or less a slave trade, in which businesspeople essentially sell children to foreigners. Conversely, the director of the orphanage makes little money, even though he does the most work. And when Vanya earns some money (which he planned to give to another orphan in exchange for reading lessons) and doesn1t inform the oldest child in the orphanage Kolyan, a young version of a Russian mobster, he whips Vanya with a belt. An even more striking example of the supposed failure of capitalism is the girl in the orphanage who has taken to prostitution for her survival.
The film's anti-capitalist theme does not turn it into a piece of propaganda, however; it merely reflects the filmmakers' opinions. The brilliant story captivates, and the five-year-old Spiridonov acts superbly, conveying emotions one would not expect possible in such a young child. His performance, upon which the entire movie revolves, ultimately makes the film a must-see, regardless of one's views.
