Children of the Revolution
In this biting satire directed by Peter Duncan, the enigmatic Judy Davis stars as an extremely devoted Communist Australian deeply enamored of Joseph Stalin and his ideas. She writes Stalin letters, and when she gets pregnant, she thinks the child is his. When she gives birth, she raises the child in a manner she perceives as the proper Communist Party way. Co-stars Sam Neill, F. Murray Abraham and Rachel Griffiths.
Member Reviews
Fun from Down Under - TheGallopingMajor
This wacky idea shouldn't have worked but it did. Judy Davis is great, both hilarious and sympathetic, as a misguided angry true believer - we've all met her in real life - never over the top and never mocking her own character. The rest of the cast is top notch as well.Aspired to be better than it was - eoguy
Its always discomforting to see the overproduction of a very poor script. The basic plot of Children of the Revolution, in which a feckless parlor radical ends up birthing Joseph Stalin’s lovechild, should’ve presented fertile territory for some excellent and long-overdue satire. Instead, the author takes a plot that could only be rendered as fantastic farce and tries to conform it to some kind of realistic continuity. The result is an overwrought mess; first it’s a comedy, then it’s a drama, then it’s a thriller, then comedy again, and again drama, and so on. It does none of these things well independently of one another. The comedy is sparse and unfunny because the author seems to know little about radicals other than how to pick them out of a crowd. The drama fails because the premise is so comical and fantastic. The attempt at suspense is altogether inexplicable. All of these failures are crammed uncomfortably into a disjointed, incoherent whole which takes itself far too seriously. Yet the production itself is not the work of amateurs. It is well-lit, well-shot, and populated with big-name stars. This is where the film makes its point in spite of itself. The film was subsidized with grants from the three different public arts councils. The actors, cinematographer, grips, gaffers, et al, were fulfilling something in their union contracts which mandates them to work on an arbitrary quota of local productions. Without these conditions, this film would never have been made. So, though the text of Children of the Revolution argues its anti-communism ineptly, it does provide an object lesson of the way unions and social engineers can conspire to foist sub-satisfactory art on the public.Definitely worth seeing - Katisha
Lots to like in this, particularly the performances of Davis, Neill, Abraham and Rush. I wasn't as impressed with Roxburgh and Griffiths, but they were ok. It's a decidedly odd story, would never fly with lesser actors in the roles. I quite enjoyed it.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Fun from Down Under - TheGallopingMajor
This wacky idea shouldn't have worked but it did. Judy Davis is great, both hilarious and sympathetic, as a misguided angry true believer - we've all met her in real life - never over the top and never mocking her own character. The rest of the cast is top ...Aspired to be better than it was - eoguy
Its always discomforting to see the overproduction of a very poor script. The basic plot of Children of the Revolution, in which a feckless parlor radical ends up birthing Joseph Stalin’s lovechild, should’ve presented fertile territory for some excellent ...Definitely worth seeing - Katisha
Lots to like in this, particularly the performances of Davis, Neill, Abraham and Rush. I wasn't as impressed with Roxburgh and Griffiths, but they were ok. It's a decidedly odd story, would never fly with lesser actors in the roles. I quite enjoyed it.