CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.5 Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
Australia, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 5/2/97 (limited) Running Length: 1:40 MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, sex) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Richard Roxburgh, Judy Davis, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Rachel Griffiths, F. Murray Abraham, Paul Livingston, Paul Lyneham Director: Peter Duncan Producer: Tristan Miall Screenplay: Peter Duncan Cinematography: Martin McGrath Music: Nigel Westlake U.S. Distributor: Miramax Films
Quite a few recent North American imports of Australian films have been mediocre, feel-good comedies like HOTEL DE LOVE, COSI, and LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES. CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION, the latest offering from down under, is superior to its tepid '97 predecessors in several ways. Not only is it based on a fairly original premise, but the humor exhibits a distinct edge.
The film starts out much like STRICTLY BALLROOM, with a faux documentary format that lapses into a more traditional narrative version of storytelling. This style persists throughout the entire film, with talking head commentary and "archival footage" occasionally interrupting the flow. The most biting wit comes during these "interviews," and first-time writer/director Peter Duncan's atypical approach allows the movie to end with a recursive twist.
CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION opens in 1951 Sydney, where die-hard communist Joan Fraser (Judy Davis) is drumming up support to defeat a ballot referendum that would outlaw the party. Joan's mantra, which she utters at every possible opportunity, is taken directly from Marx: "From each according to his capacity to each according to his means." One of her fellow communists, a conventional fellow named Zachary Welch (Geoffrey Rush), proposes marriage, but Joan refuses, claiming that she's not in love with him.
Every week, she writes a new letter to her hero, Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham). When the dictator finally gets around to reading her missives, he is so touched by her enthusiasm that he arranges for her to visit Moscow for the 1952 Communist Party Conference. There, on the night that Stalin dies, she sleeps with both him and an Australian/Russian double agent (or perhaps triple agent) named David Hoyle. Nine months later, when Joan is back in Sydney and married to Zachary, she gives birth to a baby boy. But is the child, Joe Welch (played by Ben McIver as a youngster; Richard Roxburgh as an adult), the offspring of Stalin or Hoyle?
Smartly written and adroitly developed, CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION fires verbal and visual volleys at multiple bullseyes, from communism and Stalin to the news media and McDonalds. Not all of the satirical jabs hit their mark, but there are so many of them that most of the misses go unnoticed. And several that do work are just short of brilliant. One of the more absurd scenes, which calls to mind Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler" (from THE PRODUCERS), has Stalin singing and dancing to "I Get a Kick Out of You". There's also a sequence that details a "macabre and barbaric" means of breaking a hunger strike: blow the scent of sizzling bacon into the cell of the striking prisoner.
One testament to the strength of Duncan's film is the cast he was able to assemble. International star Judy Davis is in fine form as Joan. Geoffrey Rush, who just won a Best Actor Academy Award for SHINE, plays her husband. Sam Neill is a dashing, debonair spy. Rachel Griffiths (MURIEL'S WEDDING) is a sexy constable. And Richard Roxburgh, a relative unknown with impressive range, is Joe, the possible son-of- Stalin.
If there's an obvious fault with CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION, it's that there's very little subtlety. Some of the satire is broader than seems necessary. And many of the parallels between Joe and Stalin (such as the dark, vault-like office where both of them "hold court") are rather obvious. Nevertheless, there's enough solidly entertaining, occasionally thought-provoking material in the film to make it worth a trip to the theater. The barbs directed at the manner in which the media disseminates information, while not as vicious as those delivered by Gus Van Sant's TO DIE FOR, are among the movie's strengths, and the aspects of political parody are universally comprehensible. CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION uses a fresh approach to take aim at a broad range of targets, and the result is both decisive and incisive.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
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