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Plot:
It's a pretty tall order to ask a six-year-old to suddenly take on responsibility for his own life. The questions facing Vanya are really tough: does he want to live a comfortable life as an adopted c...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:June 28, 2008LETTERBOX. Maravillosa. Cuenta su conmovedora historia con una admirable economía de sentimientos y equilibrando el entorno, la atmósfera y las tribulaciones del protagonista. La actuación del niño Kolya Spiridonov no es nada menos que magnífica. / Wonderful. Tells its moving story with an admirable economy of sentiment and balancing context, atmosphere and the internal tribulations of the protagonist. Child actor Kolya Spiridonov's performance is nothing short of magnificent.
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MCT:March 1, 2008
A Russian movie about a six year old orphan who is scheduled to be adopted by an Italian family. The movie is about his quest to find his real mother before this happens. It was touching but bleak. I found the ending a little confusing until I looked it up: Vanya stayed with his birth mother and the other Russian boy got adopted by the Italians!
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MCT:December 19, 2007This movie completely engrossed me, I haven't seen anything this emotionally rivetting in a really long time. It's one of those films that if it can hit the mark, it does...without mercy.
Of course, those of you who detest subtitles....beware! 'cause it's another foreign film, this time it's Russian.
I've not heard of any of these actors before, and this review is probably fricken' biased...but who cares...let's get on with the story!
It's about a little boy, Ivan [affectionately Vayna for short] Solnestev who is one of the numerous children in a little orphanage in some little town in Russia [I'm presuming]. Anyways, so the film begins with a nice young Italian couple coming by to check out this little boy deciding on whether or not they would like to adopt him and give him a fulfilling life in Italy.
Regardless of this fantastic offer, the little six-year-old is still in a dilemma as after his good friend Alesha Mushkin is carted off to another family a short while before...finally, his birth mother shows up distraught looking for him fervently. Instead, the director of the orphanage kicks her out and threatens to kill her. After drinking too much vodka sitting at the bus stop she waits until Vayna, his friend Anton and an older girl Natasha who went shopping come back and asks little Ivan to sit and talk to her about Alesha.
Later on we learn that 'allegedly' Mushkin's real mother threw herself onto the train tracks...although the older kids swear she just drank too much and fell and that starts Vanya thinking. 'What if when I'm in Italy and my real mother comes looking for me?' As his friend Anton says, 'Once they change your name, that's it. There's no hope of them for ever finding you again.'
Determined to find out about his birth mother Vanya takes on a lot of very brave, and sometimes quite foolish tasks that included breaking into the director's safe for personal files, stealing from Nikolai [who being one of the older kids takes advantage of the younger ones by having them work for him and give him all their money], and eventually leaving the chances of Italy far behind him.
The hardships that he faces seem a little bit surreal and unrealistic for a six-year-old to deal with but once engrossed by this film we stop and wonder 'how the hell do we know what we would do in that situation?'
The amazing quest that Vanya sets out on is something of a dream which he struggles to make a reality, facing various [dangerous] obstacles, kind people, neglect, apathy, escaping the authorities and so forth. Eventually he learns that the world isn't altogether necessarily a safe and happy place and that sometimes although the brain is yelling at us to stop our heart beats on stronger and louder drowning out any warnings that the brain utters. -
MCT:October 28, 2007This is a Great Movie, its in the Russian Language with English Subtitles. Its about a boy who is ready to be take'n in by foster parents in Italy, right befor the adoption, he runs off to find his real Mom. Worth the watch, but wouldn't let anyone under 16 watch it.
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MCT:September 3, 2007
the sort of movie that just fills your heart with love. A young Russian boy has the chance to be adopted by an Italian family but instead goes on a quest to find his birth mother. The young boy is charming, quite a good little actor.
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MCT:August 7, 2007
I liked this movie overall. It's hard for me to understand the Russia dialect. I could tell that there was a lot more going on than I could completely understand.
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MCT:July 9, 2007
An interesting journey about a poor orphan boy in search of his birth mother. Very little happens, but all performances are great.
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MCT:July 4, 2007
A little slow and the ending is contrived, but this tale of an abandoned six-year-old's quest to find his mother is well worth a watch.
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MCT:June 16, 2007
Not entirely brilliant, but certainly still entertaining enough. It fell a little flat towards the end, but the story was interesting enough to keep you watching.
Seeing the real Russia was the winning aspect here. -
MCT:June 4, 2007
A thought-provoking film concerning a young orphan boy who desires to know who his birth mother was and goes on a journey to find her. Despite the hardships you have to watch this boy face, it's a very good movie and worth watching.
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MCT:June 3, 2007
This was a great movie. It showed a side of Russia I had often heard about but never fully understood. poignant, sad, and more importantly honest, this is going on the top of my list.
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MCT:May 27, 2007
A nice little film that is a bit sentimental and has an ending that seemed a bit unreal. Still, it was a decent film and I did enjoy the little boy playing Vanya. He is quite the little actor.
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MCT:March 26, 2007Really wating to see, especially because know I know canedians families who have adopted kids from East Europe.
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MCT:March 23, 2007
8/10
Almost depressingly bleak, this story is about a little Russian orphane who can only help but question what everyone else around him considers luck and happiness, adoption by a wealthy Italian family, a new home and a new life. Vanya can only think of the possibility of his real mother still being alive and a true family, regardless of the many hardships this might entail. He's willing to take the risks because of what it means: a life spent knowing the truth.
Not allowing intimidation nor near death scare him, we learn through this intrepid and fearless little boy of the the true meaning of courage and happiness. While a bit cliche at times, including the bumbling villains in pursuit of the boy and the help the boy recieves from a prostitute with a heart of gold, the film's brilliant conclusion makes up for it. What seems a bit saccharine at first eventually leaves a lasting bittersweet taste that makes you question your own life and what's most important, what truly makes you happy. A remarkable achievement from a movie of such humble means. -
MCT:February 11, 2007
It actually sounds interesting. It is a type of movie you would watch with your closes friends on a rainy night, lol!
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MCT:February 2, 2007
I want to see this, but being a foreign film, it's very hard to say which direction it could take...
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One rule of thumb for me I don't watch subtitled movies. I might sound igrnorant but I don't want to watch a screen while I am trying to pay attention to the action in the movie.
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MCT:January 18, 2007umm who in there write mind would watch this. not me .maybe a person who in in this sort of thing would like it but i'm just no .. i rate this moviea 3
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Comments
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paolak4posted 356 days ago -
Funny, witty, and exceptionally contagious. This movie not only delivers a unique story line but also a warming tale about a young child determined to do what he knows is right.
posted 385 days ago -
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