Children of the Revolution (1996 film)

Children of the Revolution
Directed by Peter Duncan
Produced by Tristram Miall
Written by Peter Duncan
Starring
Music by Nigel Westlake
Cinematography Martin McGrath
Edited by Simon Martin
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release dates
  • 26 December 1996 (1996-12-26)
Running time
 99 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Box office A$$838,368[1]

Children of the Revolution is a 1996 Australian historic comedy film, depicting Joseph Stalin and his son's somewhat deterministic path into The Revolution in modern-day Australia. It stars Judy Davis, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, and F. Murray Abraham as Joseph Stalin.

Plot

Joan (Judy Davis) is a young Australian communist who goes to the Soviet Union as part of a work study program in the 1950s. There she catches the eye of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham) and the two sleep together just before Stalin dies. Returning to Australia, Joan discovers she is pregnant and gives birth to Stalin's love child, whom she names Joe (Richard Roxburgh). Her son has a troubled upbringing, rebelling against both his mother's left wing politics and Australian society in general. He spends time in jail where he learns about Stalin's crimes from a fellow inmate. Upon release marries Anna (Rachel Griffiths) a police officer who had arrested him. She is the child of Ukrainian refugees who fled to Australia to escape Stalin's purges. Pledging to go on the straight and narrow, Joe rises to become the head of Australia's police union and seizes more and more political power. Anna learns of Joe's true parentage, but keeps this secret from Joe out of love and a conviction that she cannot truly know for certain. The secret eats at their relationship and Joe resents the secrecy when it is revealed.

Cast

Production

The film was inspired in part by Peter Duncan's grandfather, who was a long-standing member of the Communist Party. He wrote the script to help him get into the Australian Film Television and Radio School and showed it to Tristram Miall after he graduated; the producer loved it and decided to turn it into a film.[2]

Critical Reception

The film currently holds a rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[3] The website Metacritic gave the film a score of 76/100,[4] and at IMDb the film has a 6.3/10 rating.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Children of the Revolution".
  2. ↑ "Interview with Peter Duncan". Signet, 18 December 1996. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. ↑ "Children of the Revolution". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "Children of the Revolution". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Children of the Revolution". IMDb. Retrieved 9 April 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.