Children of the Revolution (1996)

This film brought tears of joy and laughter to my family when we saw it. I guess you had to be there or you had to be the child of Australian lapsed communist actors in the 1950s to see how wickedly apt Judy Davis' performance was- Lines like "Its hard to plan a revolution with six o'clock closing" had us rolling on the floor. Loved it. Loved Richard Roxburgh. Loved all the cast and in particular loved the premise and the plot. Joe Stalin as the father of this almost physcotic love child. All the innocence of Sydney in the 1950s. All those quirky characters and all those great one liners. I cannot believe that this film never really gained the recognition it deserved.Its a must see!

As a son who grew up in a family of communists, I found this movie very insightful: the twists and turns of what fervent idealists took to be worker's paradise through the 50s, 60s, 70s and then to the end of the dream in the late 80s/early 90s was very well portrayed, especially with Judy Davis' stalwart commitment, which was portrayed quite sympathetically; the dark side of her family relationships was also poignantly sketched, as were her son's struggles with history: both global and personal; all in all, a superb blend of the comic and the dramatic: a genre it's very easy to screw up and is rarely, if ever, handled as deftly as it was here.

Brilliant performances from the whole cast set a unique story line ablaze with sparkling moments. Dark turns of plot are relieved by fascinating psycho-sexual revelations, and the whole effect is one of uplift as disaster is averted through enlightenment and personal sacrifice.

I'm a huge fan of Judy Davis, so I was eager to see her in a movie from her native land for a change, and this ranks with her best performances. It's odd to find a mid-90's film that's a satire on communism, but writer-director Peter Duncan and Davis do a good job here. Although Davis' character, Joan Fraser, is so single-minded, she and Duncan don't make the mistake of caricaturing her, instead making a strong, energetic person who happens to be a zealot.The movie does stumble with F. Murray Abraham's portrayal of Stalin. In his hands, Stalin is a caricature, and so the potential unease we might have on Joan's behalf (though she's fiercely dedicated, she wouldn't stand behind a mass murderer) is passed over, and he comes off like a marshmallow. On the other hand, the ever-reliable Sam Neill is a perfect fit as the secret agent Joan comes in contact with, Geoffrey Rush is good as the long-suffering Zachary, who Joan dominates with the same fervor she dominates political meetings, and Richard Roxburgh is funny as Joan's son Joe, who, naturally, becomes a police leader. The best support, however, comes from Rachel Griffiths as Joe's girlfriend, also a cop.