It is not difficult to detect the documentarian behind Andrei Kravchuk's winning feature debut. The Italian is a very human and sympathetic study of a young boy in the grim world of a Russian orphanage that carries overtones of Charles Dickens. The adults scheme while the children plan their escapes or simply try to negotiate their way through lives with little future. Kravchuk seamlessly depicts the harsh reality of this environment while remaining open to the dramatic possibilities offered by the story of six-year-old Vanya.
The orphanage is run by the wily "Madam" (Maria Kuznetsova), who is only interested in making money by selling the children to wealthy westerners who come her way. Each adoption is treated as a financial transaction. The vulnerable but tough-skinned Vanya is given his nickname, "The Italian," when he is chosen for adoption by an Italian couple. It seems Vanya will be one of the lucky ones; at least he will escape. The other children his age find themselves at the mercy of older kids involved in everything from theft to pimping. However, Vanya's life changes when he meets the birth mother of another boy who had left for the West in the hands of foreigners. This encounter has a huge impact, and convinces Vanya that he needs to find his own birth mother.
To begin, he needs access to the confidential files stored in Madam's office, but he can't read. Confronting one obstacle after another, Vanya is tireless throughout his attempt to find his mother. During his voyage, he encounters kindness and sympathy, treachery and duplicity, but remains unwaveringly focused on his goal.
Set in 2002, an abandoned 5-year-old boy living in a rundown orphanage in a small Russian village is adopted by an Italian family.
(17 votes)
3.
A Russian six-year-old is given the chance to start a new life with a family willing to adopt him in Italy. But the young boy yearns to find his real mother, so he sets off in search of her, entering into a perilous and danger-filled world in the process.
(15 votes)
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