Film reviews

Tagline – You don't want to know what he does... You just want to know when he's caught.

How does one begin reviewing a film as essential as Citizen X?

This is not an easy film to watch. It is, nevertheless, one of the most brutally honest crime thrillers to be made in the last 20 years. Forget Hollywood; forget Silence of the Lambs or anything else you’ve seen. Citizen X will shock you to your fingertips; it will make you angry; it will make you smile in recognition; it will make you gasp in horror.

Citizen X is a fictional account of Andrei Chikatilo, the Ukrainian serial killer – who was convicted of at least 52 murders – and of the efforts of the Soviet detectives to capture him. Chikatilo “operated” in the former Soviet Union from the late 1970s to the early 1990s until he was finally caught and convicted. The film is based on Robert Cullen’s book The Killer Department, so named because not only did the stifling Soviet bureaucracy at the time not allocate enough resources to the detectives on the case, but also refused to admit publicly that a serial killer could exist in the “perfect” Communist system. As a result, the film – as well as being a riveting crime thriller – also tries to make a serious point about the Communist Party’s own propaganda and bureaucracy contributing to the failure to capture Chikatilo.

Stephen Rea is perfect as Detective Viktor Burakov, the pathologist in charge of the case who is continually harassed and harangued by the Party; Donald Sutherland’s acting in his role as Col. Mikhail Fetisov (Burakov's commanding officer) is flawless. Jeffrey DeMunn turns in a genuinely believable performance as Chikatilo, a psychologically shattered and ultimately pathetic serial killer who turns to horrific crime as a way to boost his downtrodden ego. Max von Sydow is resoundingly brilliant in his role as Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky, a psychologist assisting in the case – the first time in the Soviet Union that a psychologist had been called in to assist a criminal investigation. Joss Ackland’s performance as Bondarchuk, the Communist Party’s Propaganda man, is suitably menacing. Imelda Staunton, as Viktor’s increasingly frightened but supportive wife, is underused – but her performance is impeccable.

The lead actors in Citizen X succeed in creating a sense of incredible suspense and peril, appropriate to the subject matter of the film, and are well supported by a skilful supporting cast, a clever script, and appropriate music and editing, all of which serve to the feeling of anxiety and an almost tangible impending doom. This film is fully recommended, but be warned – it is rated R for strong, graphic violence and related language. One or two scenes are fairly graphic, and will shock you. Please do not view it if you have a sensitive nature or if you have children running around.