"There aren't any serial killers in the Soviet State!"

Coventry

Still very early in the film, the inexperienced but intelligent and honest forensic expert turned detective Viktor Burakov is confronted with the quote from this review's subject line; - spoken by a truly obnoxious senior committee member and right about when he reveals his first findings after the discovery of 8 bodies of young women and children in the area of Rostov. The ignorant and loathsome politician Bondarchuk (unthankful but stellar role for Joss Ackland) claims that serial killing is a typically American phenomenon, and imposes his opinion to the rest of the committee as well. This brief moment basically summarizes the entire film and simultaneously explains why a sick murderer like Andrej Chikatilo could remain at large for a long period of ten years and make more than 50 victims, even though his action terrain wasn't too expanded, and his methods weren't exactly subtle or sophisticated. "Citizen X" isn't just a brilliant thriller depicting the hunt for an inhumanly cruel serial killer, it's a perplexing semi-docudrama depicting the hunt for a serial killer in a country where corrupt and exaggeratedly conservative authority figures are deliberately obstructing police investigations, and thus putting more innocent lives at risk, simply to protect their own posts and beliefs.

"Citizen X" is a downright fantastic film, and as far as factual stories of real-life serial killers go, one of the most astonishing and jaw-droppingly incredible portraits I ever witnessed. This is one of those stories that you simply wouldn't accept if they were pure fiction, simply because it's too implausible and far-fetched. How can it possibly be that, already in the 80s of the previous century, prominent influencers sabotaged police researches, denied the use of easily available modern techniques, refused insights from forensic or psychological experts, abused the chaos to spread hatred against homosexuals, or even ordered the release of potential suspects only because they were members or the "correct" political party? It's unthinkable, perhaps, but "Citizen X" demonstrates that it was (and maybe, in some parts of the world, still is) a painful reality that cost many, many lives. The tone of the film is strikingly sober and depressing because of this. Burakov is a genuinely good person, and he doesn't want anything more than putting a stop to the horrifying murders, but he's made an oppressed minion by his superiors and even has to fear for his own freedom at a certain point. The film benefices tremendously from the gloomy time period and the sensitive political climate! The people of Rostov are treated like sheep, without respect or remorse for the family members they've lost, while the more influential authority figures arrogantly refer to each other as "Comrade" and revert to corruption in order to save their luxurious social position. It's compelling and disgusting at the same time.

Stephen Rea, who already stood in my personal top 10 of underrated actors on this planet, is magnificent in the lead role. The entire cast is perfect, in fact. Jeffrey DeMunn also puts down a remarkable performance as Andrej Chikatilo. He underlines that his character is a sexual deviant who suffers from uncontrollable and compulsory urges, but also makes sure that you never feel any empathy for him; - only hatred and disgust. The sole reason why I'm not awarding "Citizen X" with a perfect 10/10 rating is because it's an American film instead of a Russian one. If this would have been a sort of "Mea Culpa" Russian rectification to the victims and their families, it definitely would have been even more powerful (like the recent Hungarian film "Strangled"/A Martfüi Rém" was)

score 9/10

Coventry 16 December 2019

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5326101/