''Siberian Education'' (known as ''Deadly Code'' in the United States;) is a 2013 Italian crime-drama film directed by

Gabriele Salvatores Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directe ...

. It is based on the allegedly autobiographic novel with the same name written by Nicolai Lilin, the pen name of Nikolai Verzhbitsky. The film was nominated to 11

David di Donatello The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the '' Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (The Academy of Italian Cinema). There are 26 award ca ...

awards, including

Best Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

and Best Director.

Mauro Pagani Mauro Pagani (born 5 February 1946) is an Italian musician and singer. Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 as violinist and founding member of the progressive rock band Pr ...

won the

Ciak d'oro ''Ciak'' is a popular Italian film magazine published in Milan, Italy. It is the most popular film magazine in Italy. The title is the Italian word (also spelled ''ciac'', for a film clapperboard. History and profile ''Ciak'' was established in ...

for Best Score. The novel by Lilin has never been published in Russia and an investigation by a Russian journalist found that the story was a fabricated hoax by Lilin. Many of the actors, especially child actors, are Lithuanian. Winter scenes were also shot in Lithuania (instead of the actual

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

). All other scenes were shot in parts of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The movie itself was filmed in English, with Italian subtitles.

Plot

Kolyma and Gagarin are two boys in an ethnically Siberian village in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

being raised by Kolyma's grandfather Kuzja. Kuzja imposes a very strict education to the children, focusing on hatred for the Soviet officials such as bankers or the military, which are regarded as enemies. Following one of their robbery attempts against the Soviets, Gagarin is captured, tried and imprisoned. Seven years later Gagarin is freed, but he discovers that his world has completely changed and he does not know how to succeed in solving his problems. Gagarin finally discovers that the ideals of his people have collapsed in the drug trade, so he enters into this new system but he ends up in conflict with Kolyma.

Cast

John Malkovich John Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

as Grandfather Kuzja * Arnas Fedaravicius as Kolyma * Vilius Tumalavicius as Gagarin *

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film ''Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television serie ...

as Ink *

Eleanor Tomlinson Eleanor May Tomlinson (born 19 May 1992) is an English actress and singer. She has appeared in films including '' Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'' (2008), '' Jack the Giant Slayer'' (2013), ''Colette'' (2018) and '' Love Wedding Repeat'' ( ...

as Xenya * Jonas Trukanas as Mel * Erikas Zaremba as Vitalic *

James Tratas Žilvinas Tratas, also known as James Tratas (born 10 December 1988) is a Lithuanian actor, screenwriter and TV personality. Biography James Tratas was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. His father Jurijus is a carpenter and his mother Vitalija pl ...

as Shorty

Reception

Siberian Education received positive reviews. James Luxford from The National (UAE) gave to the film a score of 3/5 writing: "Sombre and grim, this coming-of-age tale keeps the scale small but the issues big, hinting at wider questions of good and evil in the world, but an inability to offer truly memorable moments creates a ceiling artistically". He also appreciated Salvatores' script and Malkovich's performance. Catherine Brown from Filmink praised the film saying that:" Despite its faults, the film is worth viewing not only for Malkovich's brilliant performance". The Hollywood Reporter gave to the film a positive review calling it: " ..a strong piece of exotica".

References

External links

* * 2013 films English-language Italian films Films based on Russian novels Films directed by Gabriele Salvatores Films set in Moldova Films shot in Lithuania 2010s English-language films 2010s Italian films {{2010s-Italy-film-stub