Despite the title, THE ITALIAN is actually a Russian film set at a bleak orphanage in rural Russia. The story opens when six-year-old Vanya Solntsev (Kolya Spiridonov) is introduced to an Italian couple who are hoping to adopt a child. Vanya is a handsome, bright-eyed little boy, and the couple takes an instant liking to him, agreeing to give him a home. It is quite clear to the other children, and to little Vanya, that he is in an extremely enviable position. The adoption by the Italians will take Vanya away from the miserable conditions of the orphanage, where the teenagers run a mini-Mafia, taking candy from the children and doling out beatings whenever anyone withholds money from them. <br> <br> Vanya is nervous, though accepting of his fate, until the mother of another orphan comes to reclaim her son, and she is told he has already been adopted. After she is forced off the premises, the woman commits suicide. When Vanya learns of this, he is desperate to find out whether or not his own real mothe...

Cast: Kolya Spiridonov, Mariya Kuznetsova, Nikolay Reutov, Jurij Ickov, Denis Moiseenko, Sasha Sirotkin

Director: Andrey Kravchuk

Genre: Foreign

Release Date: 2005

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Screen Writer: Andrei Romanov

DVD Release Date: May 22, 2007

Runtime: 1hr 39min

Studio: Sony Pictures