The Italian (2005)

Though the title might suggest otherwise, The Italian is a Russian film, and is filled with all of the characteristic bleakness of Mother Russia. I was enthusiastic about seeing this film after reading a synopsis of it, but was disappointed.

The Italian is set in an orphanage in Russia, where the children are packed in like sardines and bullies rule. We meet 6-year-old Vanya, who is about to be adopted by a couple from Italy. During the two-month waiting period until Vanya is legally adopted, he becomes obsessed with finding his birth mother. Vanya is compelled to do this by the fact that a birth mother arrived at the orphanage to take the son she abandoned several years ago home. She is cruelly turned away after learning that her son was adopted by another couple, and she then commits suicide. Vanya cannot bear the thought of his own birth mother facing the same fate, and decides to find her at any cost.

Though the movie was only 90 minutes long, it felt much, much longer. I attribute this to the horribly depressing state of things at the orphanage, and in Russia in general. I have only seen one other Russian film, “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath,” which is Russia’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and even that movie, which was about the holiday season, was exhaustingly depressing. I am so glad that my ancestors left Russia, and I didn’t have to grow up there. It seems like a miserable place where there is no point of living.

But, I digress. What was remarkable and thought provoking about the film was that even in this bleak world, even though Vanya was abandoned as a baby and has suffered abuse at the orphanage, he has an amazing capacity for love. He so desperately loves the mother who abandoned him, who he never even met, that he must find her at all costs.

There are many characters that all seem like they could be real people, motivated by greed or lust or power, or who are just beyond hope.

Though I usually don’t have any trouble with subtitles, I did find these intrusive and at times difficult to follow. There are sometimes several different conversations going on at the same time, some that are just in the background, and they are all subtitled in together, which made it confusing.

I also really disliked the way the resolution of the film was presented. It happened in the last 10 seconds of the movie, and was only described in a voiceover with subtitles. Had the two loud, annoying ladies in my theater not figured it out loudly during the ending credits, I don’t think I would have caught what happened.