''Children of the Revolution'' is a 1996 Australian

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

, depicting

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

and his son's somewhat

deterministic Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...

path into The Revolution in modern-day Australia. It stars

Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh (born 23 January 1962) is an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including three AACTA Awards (including AFI), three Logie Awards, ...

Judy Davis Judith Davis (born 23 April 1955) is an Australian actress in film, television, and on stage. With a career spanning over 40 years, she has been commended for her versatility and regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation. Frequen ...

Geoffrey Rush Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Australian actor. He is known for his Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric leading man roles on stage and screen. He is among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting, having received an Academy ...

Sam Neill Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. Neill's near-50 year career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he has been regarded as one o ...

, and

F. Murray Abraham F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film '' Amadeus'' (1984) for which he wo ...

Plot

Joan is a young

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

who goes to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

as part of a work study program in the 1950s. There she catches the eye of Soviet dictator

and the two sleep together just before Stalin dies. Returning to Australia, Joan discovers she is pregnant and gives birth to Stalin's love child, whom she names Joe. Her son (who does not know who his father is) has a troubled upbringing, rebelling against both his mother's left wing politics and Australian society in general. He spends time in jail where he learns about Stalin's crimes from a fellow inmate. Upon release, he marries Anna, a police officer who had arrested him. She is the child of Latvian refugees who fled to Australia to escape Stalin's

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...

. Pledging to go on the straight and narrow, Joe rises to become the head of Australia's police union and seizes more and more political power. Anna learns of Joe's true parentage, but keeps this secret from Joe out of love and a conviction that she cannot truly know for certain. The secret eats at their relationship and Joe resents the secrecy when it is revealed.

Cast

as Joan *

as Nine *

as Joe *

Rachel Griffiths Rachel Anne Griffiths (born in 1968) is an Australian actress. Raised primarily in Melbourne, she began her acting career appearing on the Australian series ''Secrets'' before being cast in a supporting role in the comedy ''Muriel's Wedding'' ...

as Anna *

as Welch *

Russell Kiefel Russell John Kiefel (1951 – 20 November 2016) was an Australian stage, film and television actor. After graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art, Kiefel started his screen acting career with a role in the 1977 feature film ''The S ...

as Barry Rogers *

John Gaden John Stuart Gaden (born 13 November 1941) is an Australian actor and director known particularly for his stage career, although he has also made some film and television appearances. Career John Gaden was born in Sydney where his father owned ...

as Professor C.W. 'Wilf' Wilke * Ben McIvor as Joe – 8 Years *

Marshall Napier James Marshall Napier (22 October 1951 – 14 August 2022) was a New Zealand-born character actor, playwright and graphic artist. He is known for a succession of strong supporting roles in Australasian films and television shows. He has also h ...

as Brendan Shaw * Ken Radley as Bernard Shaw *

Fiona Press Fiona Press is an Australian actress whose career has spanned over 30 years. Career Press was part of the original Australian cast of ''1984''. In 1991, she won both an AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and a Silver Shell for ...

as Mavis Craig *

Alex Menglet Alex Menglet, born ''Alexei Menglet'' in Moscow USSR in 1956, is an actor who has found success working in Australia. Career Menglet is best known for his roles as chef Ray "Gay Ray" Proctor in the 1984 season of ''Prisoner'' and more recently ...

as Yuri Nikolayev *

Rowan Woods Rowan Woods (born 1959) is an Australian AACTA Award-winning film and television director, actor and screenwriter. Career Film Woods directed '' The Boys'' in 1998 and won an ACCTA Award for Best Direction. The film was also entered into the 48 ...

as Col Slansky * Barry Langrishe as Ted *

Ron Haddrick Ronald Norman Haddrick (9 April 1929 – 11 February 2020) was an Australian actor, cricketer, narrator and presenter. In 2012, he received the Actors Equity Lifetime Achievement Award for his long and distinguished career in media, spanning s ...

as Sir Allan Miles * Graham Ware Jr. as Harry * Robbie McGregor as Minister Frank *

Heather Mitchell Heather Lee Mitchell (born 1958) is an Australian actress, appearing in Australian productions of stage, television and film. She is a graduate of NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s t ...

as Mrs. Savage *

Paul Livingston Paul James Livingston (born March 1956), popularly known as his alter ego Flacco, is an Australian comedian who has regularly appeared on many television shows, predominantly on ABC TV and Network Ten, including ''Good News Week'', ''The Sand ...

as Beria *

Dennis Watkins Dennis Watkins (born September 9, 1978) is an American magician, mentalist, and actor, based in Chicago, Illinois. Watkins specializes in sleight of hand, walking on broken glass, swallowing razor blades, and a card trick known as the Balloon Trick ...

as Khrushchev * Steve Abbott as Malenkov (as Steve Abbott) * Matt Potter as Tommy Booth * Harold Hopkins as Police Commissioner * Sam Willcock as Ivan *

Roy Billing Roy Harwood Billing (born 1947) is a New Zealand television actor, now based on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. He was brought up in Ruawai, Northland, New Zealand. Billing spent almost three decades living and working in Australia. He became wid ...

as Police Sergeant * Philip Dodd as Policeman Brian *

Paul Lyneham Paul Lyneham (13 August 1945 – 24 November 2000) was an Australian journalist, commentator and television presenter. Lyneham was born in Melbourne

as himself *

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

(archive footage) as himself *

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then as ...

(archive footage) as himself *

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

(archive footage) as himself *

(archive footage) as himself

Production

The film was inspired in part by Peter Duncan's grandfather, who was a long-standing member of the Communist Party. He wrote the script to help him get into the Australian Film Television and Radio School and showed it to Tristram Miall after he graduated; the producer loved it and decided to turn it into a film.

Critical reception

The film holds a rating of 80% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the film a score of 76/100.

References

External links

* * * *
''Children of the Revolution''
at Oz Movies {{DEFAULTSORT:Children of the Revolution Australian satirical films 1996 black comedy films 1996 films Australian black comedy films Films about Joseph Stalin 1990s mockumentary films Australian political satire films Films scored by Nigel Westlake Miramax films Films shot in New South Wales Films shot in Sydney Films set in the Soviet Union Films set in Sydney 1996 comedy films 1990s English-language films

Plot

Cast

Production

Critical reception

See also

References

External links