There are no serial killers in the Soviet state. So says a high ranking Communist party member when told there is one running about the USSR murdering young people. Dozens and dozens of them. Such is the premise of director Chris Gerolmo‘s riveting adaptation of the true crime bestseller The Killer Department, by Robert Cullen, a made for TV movie on HBO that aired back in 1993. Starring Stephen Rea, fresh off his much-celebrated work in Neil Jordan‘s The Crying Game, this gripping, intelligent, and well-acted drama is a must see for fans of the genre but also as a glimpse behind the Iron Curtain at the end of an era. It’s Citizen X.
THE STORY: In 1982, a body is found on a collective farm, brought to the local forensic specialist, Viktor Burakov (Rhea). Then another is found. And another. Seven all together. Burakov realizes that there is a killer on the loose, but the men in authority over him refuse to believe such madness. Mass murders only happen in decadent Capitalist countries. Setback by Communist bureaucracy and red tape, Burakov spends the next eight years desperately trying to stop the deaths, now up to fifty-three victims. It takes the fall of the Wall before things begin to change, and he’s soon working side by side with two men who believe him, General Mikhail Fetisov (Donald Sutherland) and Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky (Max von Sydow), a psychiatrist who spends three years drafting a profile of who the killer might be. When they get a suspect (Jeffrey DeMunn) in custody, mistakes are made, and now it’s going to take every effort of the police and Bukhanovsky to make the streets safe again.
REVIEW: While it may not have the budget of a large scale studio film, Citizen X is nonetheless a harrowing experience, bringing audiences inside the Soviet political state where a legal system has tied the hands of the only man who seems capable of ending a reign of terror. What works is how Gerolmo refuses to ramp up his production in the vein of the American crime thriller, skipping fast-paced action shootouts and car chases, instead constructing a tense character-driven plot where a dogged investigator slowly, methodically, exceedingly quietly hunts a brutal killer who tracks his prey in much the same way. This is the brilliance of the film’s casting, Rhea superb as the gentle but diligent ‘detective’ struggling to have his voice heard in the face of such obvious forensic evidence, and DeMunn, who looks like a harmless school teacher even as he preys upon his targets.
Beautifully photograph in Hungary, there is a deeply authentic feel about the setting, the old-world feel of the Soviet grip on it’s people permeating throughout the film’s 105-minute runtime. We are outside in the snow, and in the streets, then inside, in Burakov’s stainless steel facilities and the meeting hall where powerful but cowardly men rule with absolute power, time passing only noticeable by the changes in pictures on the wall. Randy Edelman‘s somber and unsettling score delivers moments of terrible tragedy and emotional celebration. While some may find the slow pace and lack of gore such a film might seem pre-disposed in having off-putting, there’s no lack of tension, and the use of small quiet men in roles fitted for much larger personalities is remarkably effective.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Without giving away too much, there is the character of Fetisov to keep your eye on. Sutherland plays him almost like an imposter, his ideals and understanding of the changing times far more transparent than his counterparts. He knows what is really happening and what it will take to find the killer but must be patient, something he instills in the restless Burakov. There is a sensational moment as the third act gets underway when things make a change and Fetisov has the room to himself and Burakov, his comrades shed from the proceedings. What he tells the tenacious forensic investigator is the reason we go to movies, a sensational emotional thump in the chest that is carried by Rhea with a pitch perfect performance that feels completely earned.
THE TALLY: Based on the real story of serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, Citizen X is a unique experience, its climax in a sealed interrogation room rather than an explosive action set piece. I like that, Gerolmo giving the brilliant von Sydow a powerful scene to utterly take command of the movie. While the subject matter is horrifying, the humanity of the story does it justice, for instance when a low level police officer realizes he’s let the killer slip through his fingers, allowing the death of someone he knows, it is what he does that shakes us, pulling us further into the personal story. It’s what to watch.