Compelling outcasts
The Thief
Directed by Pavel Chukhrai
Winner of the Venice Film Festival
Showing at Dendy and Cremorne cinemas from May 21
Review by Francesca Davis
Set in 1952 and seen through the eyes of six-year-old Sanya, The Thief is a powerful and complex drama depicting life in Stalinist Russia. The movie is particularly interesting because it is about people who are outcasts, not because they are political dissidents but because they are petty criminals, orphans or widows.
The movie is well acted, beautifully filmed and tells a gripping if somewhat anguished story.
The thief is Tolyan, a handsome, charismatic but brutish rogue. Tolyan uses his soldier's uniform to charm his way into collective apartments. After winning the occupants' trust, he robs them and relocates to a new town. Although Tolyan has a tattoo of Stalin, he is clearly a rebel.
Sanya and his mother, Katya, meet Tolyan on a train, and the young and vulnerable Katya is completely charmed. After learning the truth about Tolyan, Katya and Sanya reluctantly become his accomplices.
The film follows the three as they head towards tragedy, focusing particularly on Sanya as he learns from his new father figure's survival methods of force and deceit.
The sense that tragedy is just around the corner for those living on the edge of the system is graphically conveyed. Vast snow-covered expanses contrast with the cosy warmth of life inside collective apartments. The prison, hospital and orphanage scenes send shivers down your spine.
The constant fear that the characters' life of deception will be discovered by "the system", embodied by the police and neighbours, pervades the movie. Stronger still is Sanya's fear that he will lose yet another father.
Vladimir Mashkov is brilliant as the complex Tolyan, and Ekaterina Rednikova is equally compelling as Katya. But it is the sad eyes of Sanya (Misha Philipchuks) which haunt you throughout the movie. Together with the scenery, they reflect the mood of the movie at any point.
The Thief's greatest success is its portrayal of the ambiguity of human emotions. Tolyan is a survivor who, although he loves Katya and Sanya, would leave them in a second if they endangered him. Katya loves Tolyan, but it is her vulnerability as a single mother which keeps her with him, despite the great shame she feels about their lives. Sanya's worship for Tolyan can quickly flip into hatred upon betrayal.
Nevertheless, until the tragic conclusion, the three manage to create a small pocket of warmth and comfort in a very harsh social climate.
This movie is equally interesting for those who want a good drama as for those curious about life in Russia in the 1950s.