Children of the Revolution is a 1996 Australian black comedy film, depicting Joseph Stalin and his son's somewhat deterministic path into The Revolution in modern-day Australia. It stars Richard Roxburgh Judy Davis, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill, and F. Murray Abraham as Joseph Stalin.
Plot
Joan is a young Australian communist who goes to the Soviet Union as part of a work study program in the 1950s. There she catches the eye of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin 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. 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
Judy Davis as Joan
Sam Neill as Nine
F. Murray Abraham as Joseph Stalin
Richard Roxburgh as Joe
Rachel Griffiths as Anna
Geoffrey Rush as Welch
Russell Kiefel as Barry Rogers
John Gaden as Professor C.W. 'Wilf' Wilke
Ben McIvor as Joe – 8 Years
Marshall Napier as Brendan Shaw
Ken Radley as Bernard Shaw
Fiona Press as Mavis Craig
Alex Menglet as Yuri Nikolayev
Rowan Woods as Col Slansky
Barry Langrishe as Ted
Ron Haddrick as Sir Allan Miles
Graham Ware Jr. as Harry
Robbie McGregor as Minister Frank
Heather Mitchell as Mrs. Savage
Paul Livingston as Beria
Dennis Watkins 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 as Police Sergeant Philip Dodd as Policeman Brian Paul Lyneham as himself Mikhail Gorbachev (archive footage) as himself Václav Havel (archive footage) as himself Ronald Reagan (archive footage) as himself Joseph Stalin (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, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website Metacritic gave the film a score of 76/100.