Children of the Revolution

1996 Comedy

Children of the Revolution is an Australian film whose cinematic roots go back to the sardonic comedies of Billy Wilder. It is set in two time periods, the 1950s and 1990s, and goes back and forth between them. In the 1990s, Australian politician Joe Welch (Richard Roxburgh) is having some serious difficulties. We learn just how serious they are through a series of interviews with important political commentators. Joe blames his mother, Joan Fraser (Judy Davis), for his problems. This claim seems ridiculous until we flash back to the 1950s and discover that Joan, an ardent communist, had a very brief fling with Joseph Stalin (F. Murray Abraham) and that Joe Welch could be Stalin's love-child. Welch was brought up accompanying his mother on her political rounds, and acquired a fondness for jack-booted women -- something which haunts him in his adult life. Double agent David Hoyle (Sam Neill) also had an affair with Joan during her one brief trip to Moscow, and his shadowy influence also follows Welch into the time of the film. more..

Director: Peter Duncan

Starring: Judy Davis, Sam Neill, F. Murray Abraham,Richard Roxburgh, Geoffrey Rush

Reviews

  • Children bumps into a few dead spots along its irreverent way... But casual sophistication and wiggy Australian self-awareness give this product of unreconstructed bourgeois decadence its idiosyncratic charm.

    Lisa Schwarzbaum - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • This comedy has less to do with narrative than with sheer chutzpah and a first-rate cast. It manages to be irreverently funny despite a subject that is no laughing matter.

    Elvis Mitchell - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • A gloss on the disillusion that came with the embracing of communist ideals that is part playful farce, part dark satire, this unclassifiable film, both comic and strange, always holds your attention even when it doesn't seem to know where it's going.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

  • The movie is one of those brilliant and rare blends of paradoxical elements -- both the tragedy and the folly of history, the weight of inheritance, the pressure of the ideal, lots of fairly steamy sex, even a secret agent or two.

    Stephen Hunter - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

  • Duncan zips through five decades and dozens of characters without reducing the participants to cliches or slogans. A remarkable cast helps him to keep focused on the core of the piece.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Best Achievement in Costume Design

    Australian Film Institute (1996)

  • Peter Duncan

    Canberra Short Film Festival (1996)

  • Best Actress

    Chlotrudis Awards (1998)

     
  • Best Actor - Female

    Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards (1997)

  • Peter Duncan

    Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (1997)