Citizen X

Citizen X
Directed by Chris Gerolmo
Produced by Timothy Marx
Screenplay by Chris Gerolmo
Based on The Killer Department 
by Robert Cullen
Starring Stephen Rea
Donald Sutherland
Max von Sydow
Jeffrey DeMunn
Joss Ackland
John Wood
Ion Caramitru
Imelda Staunton
Music by Randy Edelman
Cinematography Robert Fraisse
Edited by William Goldenberg
Running time
 105 minutes

Citizen X is a made-for-TV film, released in 1995, which covers the investigation of the Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990, and the efforts of detectives in the Soviet Union to capture him. The film is based on Robert Cullen's non-fiction book The Killer Department (1993).

Synopsis

A body is discovered on a collective farm during harvesting in 1982. A subsequent search of adjacent woods, authorized by newly installed official, Viktor Burakov, turns up seven more bodies. The film tells the story of the subsequent eight-year hunt by forensic specialist Burakov for the serial killer responsible for the mutilation and murder of over 50 people, 35 of them below the age of 18. Burakov is promoted to detective and eventually aided, covertly at first, by Col. Mikhail Fetisov, his commanding officer and the shrewd head of the provincial committee for crime, and, much later, by Dr. Alexandr Bukhanovsky, a psychiatrist.

As well as taking on the form of a crime thriller, the movie depicts Soviet propaganda and bureaucracy that contributed to the failure of law enforcement agencies to capture the killer, Andrei Chikatilo, for almost a decade. Chikatilo's crimes were not reported publicly for years. Local politicians were fearful such revelations would have a negative impact on the USSR's image, since serial killers were associated with Western moral corruption.

Ironically, Chikatilo first came under scrutiny early in the search when he was spotted at a station and found holding a satchel bag containing a knife. He was promptly arrested. Unfortunately, he was shielded from investigation and released because he was a Communist Party member. Additionally, the Soviet crime labs erroneously reported that his blood type did not match that found at the murders. All this changed under the political reforms of glasnost and Perestroika, and the search for the killer began to make progress.

With the passage of time and easing of political restrictions, Burakov and Fetisov devise a plan to blanket almost all the railroad stations, where the serial killer preys upon the young and unsuspecting, with conspicuous uniformed men to discourage the killer. Three stations, however, are left unattended, except for undercover agents. Chikatilo is eventually discovered and identified through the diligence of a local, plainclothes soldier.

Arrested, Andrei Chikatilo is interrogated for seven consecutive days by Gorbunov, a Soviet hardliner who insists that he be the one to extract a confession. Chikatilo will not yield and, under pressure from Fetisov, psychiatrist Bukhanovsky is introduced. Reciting from his lengthy analysis and speculation, made three years earlier, of the sexually frustrated killer's personality and tendencies, Bukhanovsky gets a weeping Chikatilo to admit his guilt and answer specific questions about the details of some murders. Afterwards, Chikatilo leads law enforcement officials to the crime scenes and three additional undetected graves.

Brought to trial, held in a metal cage, a wild-eyed Chikatilo is convicted and sentenced to death. The film concludes abruptly with Chikatilo's being executed. He is lead to a nameless prison chamber by a uniformed Soviet soldier, who delivers a pistol shot to the back of the killer's head, while Chikatilo stares in shock at a central drain in the room's floor that will carry away the blood and gore of the dead.

Production

The movie was entirely shot in Hungary. The station where Chikatilo picks his victims is the Hatvan railway station, northeast of Budapest. The smaller, arched train shelter scene was shot in Nagymaros. Several other scenes were shot in the Gödöllő Railway Station. The film was directed by Chris Gerolmo, who additionally wrote the screenplay (adapted from Robert Cullen's 1993 non-fiction book The Killer Department) as well as played a small role in the movie as a militiaman.

Cast

Reception

Citizen X was met with positive reviews from critics and audiences, earning an 86% TomatoMeter score from critics 86% and 87% audience score at Rotten Tomatoes,[1] and an IMDb rating of 77/10 from viewers and critics.[2] Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic.com described it as "Fascinating and absorbing. One of HBO's finest made-for-cable flicks."

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Citizen X". Rotten Tomatoes. 1005.
  2. ↑ "Citizen X". IMDb. 1995.
  3. ↑ 28ed. Festival Internaciona de Cinema Fantàstic de Sitges (7/10 - 14/10), Sitges Film Festival, 1995, retrieved 2013-03-04

External links