It’s 1953, and the naked, mutilated bodies of a number of young boys have been found beside the railroad tracks outside of Moscow. The authorities, however, refuse to investigate the suspicious circumstances or even acknowledge them as crimes. After all, murder is strictly a capitalist disease and has no place in the communist workers’ paradise that is the USSR... or at least that’s the official edict.

Leo Demidov (Hardy) is a former war hero now working as part of Stalin’s secret police force, enjoying life as part of the Soviet elite. But his unwavering loyalty to Russia begins to fracture when the latest death strikes a particularly personal chord for him, and he is tasked with delivering the formal report – which lists the cause of death as an accident – to the victim’s grief-stricken parents. Disillusioned that his job has become more about arresting subversive citizens than solving actual crimes, he sets out to investigate these serial ‘accidents’ against direct orders – a decision that puts his career, his wife (Rapace), and ultimately, his life in jeopardy.

What follows is a labyrinthine tale of murder, mystery, treachery, and paranoia in a film that is part whodunit, part political thriller, but wholly engrossing. In fact, Child 44 has so much going for it, that it may even prove to be overwhelming at times as it juggles multiple agendas, parallel storylines, sprawling action set pieces, a romance, and more. Even the cast is a packed, star-studded roster of international talent: Hardy, Rapace, Oldman, Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, Vincent Cassel, and Charles Dance, all putting on their best Russian accents (though the complete lack of actual Slavic talent is somewhat baffling).

Even more than the sum of its already-impressive parts, Child 44 will enthral and engage you from start to finish. Make sure you clear your calendar, put on your ushanka, and come along to see this one on the big screen in our very special, exclusive Australian premiere screening of the film – only at the ANU Film Group!

Not yet fully trained, British Army private Gary Hook (O’Connell) is sent with his unit to patrol the streets of Belfast. It’s 1971, and although Gary hasn’t left his home country, he might as well be in Vietnam – for all that he understands about what’s going on, who he’s meant to be protecting, and from whom. An understandable misjudgement on the part of a basically decent commanding officer leads to a street brawl, which sees Gary separated from his unit, and in the course of one night he is forced to skulk, fight, run, crawl, beg – although it’s hard enough to simply find – his way back. Making it especially difficult is the fact he’s seen too much for his own good, and there are some on his own side who’d like to see him dead.

Some Northern Irish critics have said that Belfast was never quite so bad as all that, not even in 1971, and on reflection, several months after seeing the film, it seems likely that they’re right. But the portrait is so convincing it never occurred to me at the time to question it. At any rate, no one denies that everything that happens to Gary in this film happened often enough during The Troubles (just not all at once, to the same person, in the space of 24 hours). The film is a grim look at a tangled web of urban semi-warfare; I found the mix works well.