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Rating: The film traces the story of one of the most bloodthirsty and ruthless serial killers in history, the monster of Rostov, Andrej Romanov Chikatilo, a cannibal and pedophile who, over the course of 12 years, spread pure terror in the old Soviet Union, torturing and killing more than 50 people, including children and adolescents. It is clear that topics like these are not easy to bring to the big screen without falling into clichés or the already seen.
Our David Grieco succeeds, giving the film a semi-documentary feel at times. The film was released in 2003, but the idea took root as early as 1992 when he happened to watch Andrej Chikatilo's trial on TV. The director recounts: <I saw this man being carried up a wooden staircase, and once in the courtroom, he was met by women crying and yelling at him. A voice said, "This man is an intellectual, a teacher, and has killed 55 children." Two days later, I was in Rostov>. His idea was to make a film, but on his return, he decided to write the novel "The Communist Who Ate Children"; the protagonist is none other than Evilenko.
The film is entirely shot in Kyiv, with an extraordinary Malcolm McDowell playing the terrible Evilenko, in a state of grace and a friend of the director. The strength of the film lies in highlighting the historical context where the terrible events took place, namely, following the collapse of socialism in the Soviet Union. In the film, as in reality, the monster is a teacher suffering from impotence who loses his job because he is accused of molesting children, but thanks to the Communist Party to which he belongs, he manages to find work as a laborer in a factory outside Rostov. He is forced to travel by train, and it is in this situation that he finds opportunities to lure his victims: children who will not escape and will never see their families again.
McDowell is incredible, embodying pure evil. For the occasion, he changes his bearing, his way of walking, his gaze becomes magnetic, and he becomes the boogeyman, the one we all feared as children might "get us." All this allows him to be believable, especially in scenes where, with a reassuring manner, he approaches his victims often at bus and train stops lost in the vast Soviet countryside, and the woods become the authentic theater of terror of the worst kind.
The director does not show us gruesome scenes, the terror is evoked by the dialogues that leave to our minds the unpleasant task of imagining the events, also helped by Fabio Zamarion's excellent photography, truly outstanding. Notable is Marton Csokas's performance as Vadim Timurovic, the investigator, who realizes that the only way to catch the monster is to enter his mind and start thinking like him, although this is somewhat clichéd. However, the final interrogation scene is beautiful, where, to make the monster confess, Vadim impersonates a child, and a naked and almost trance-like McDowell relives the seduction phase... the child's fear in front of a stranger... the false reassurances given to the innocent... always managing to win over the trust, always, every time, still in a trance, Evilenko thinks of his victim, while in his ears he hears nothing but the tempting little voice of Vadim... he lunges at him and bites his neck, tasting the blood; his impotence vanishes and he manages to have an erection... a grand finale that could only be concluded with the death sentence of the monster, contested by Germany and the USA (alive) on November 14, 1994, with a blow to the back of the head, although there are no certainties if it actually happened.
4 stars thanks to the superb performance of the old Alex.
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