Memorable, crazy movie

Awesome Movie

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

I wanted to watch this movie because I read the book on which it was loosely based - 'Siberian Education' by one Nikolai Lilin. It is a story of growing up in a criminal community of people that were deported from Siberia to Transistria, a small region in present day Moldova. Whether the story is true or not, it is actually a good read.Then a read reviews of the movie on imdb and noticed that most critical reviews claim that it unfairly depicts Russia. To me it is like complaining that 'The Godfather' gives Italian Americans a bad name. 'Deadly Code' is not a documentary, even if it shows brief real-life footage to help place the story in time. I do not know if Siberians were ever 'relocated' to Moldova but it is not impossible - criminal societies in USSR / Russia existed and probably still do (thieves in law) and it did happen that the whole ethnic groups were being deported across the country in a short period of time, i.e. Tatars from Crimea to Uzbekistan in 1944.The movie itself is not an instant classic but it is well made with some great photography, good acting and a story of friendship in interesting times. The pace is rather slow but there is no need to hurry. All in all, a movie worth watching.

When used properly, John Malkovich is the best of the best when it comes to playing the bad guy. In his latest film, Deadly Code, Malkovich is playing the Grandfather of a Siberian crime syndicate and much like Brando in the Godfather, is used sparely to impart words of wisdom on his young decedents. Siberia is one of the coldest and most desolate places on the planet. When a criminal is too dangerous to even be put in the jail of a major Russian city, they are dumped into Siberia. Crime is rampant and everything is run by organized crime families, who's strict code of loyalty and honor puts even the Italians to shame. Kolyma (Vilius Turnalavicius) is the grandson and the film is split between Kolyma in the army, hunting down a wanted man, and his time growing up in a crime family under his Grandfathers guidance. Mafia movies traditionally follow a format and this film was no different, with the except of the setting, so when I heard it was the Godfather of Russian organized crime and started John Malkovich, I wondered how it was possible that I'd never heard of it, well now I know. There are these crazy rules and code of honor that these guys live by, making them gangsters who aren't really violent. They simply steal from the government to help their community. In a real sense, it's about sophisticated, responsible criminals, helping people, and avoiding the police. While honorable, it makes for an extremely slow moving film, add to that all the Russian actors trying to speak English, and you have a film that's somewhat hard to even understand. Subtitles and some more action would have helped, but so would have a more experienced cast. Most of these guys have no other listings on IMDb and the inexperience shows. The story of Deadly Code seems like a good idea, but when you have a lack of action, mixed with inexperienced actors, speaking in a way that is barely understandable, you have a very uninteresting movie that is more than somewhat hard to watch.

Every second, every moment in this movie is lie. This movie is based on it. 'Urkas' is not a nation. 'Urkas' is the name of criminals in Russia. There is no Russian name 'Kolyma'. 'Kolyma' is the name of Russian town, not a human name. There is no Russian name 'Gagarin'. 'Gagarin' is the surname (last name) of the first cosmonaut in the world. Georgians in this movie is not look like real georgians. If you don't know how they really look, type in Google 'Georgians' and you'll see it. Jews in this movie looks like... goths. This is only some moments in this movie that are not truth, because if I begin to describe every lying of this movie, I can write a whole book. This movie is dishonest. If you want to see the real life of Russian criminals, I recommend you to see the Russian movie 'Bespredel'.

If the gratuitous violence, bestowing of treasured flick-knives (for use), elaborate but inexplicable tattooing, accompanied by barely intelligible dialogue (in Siberian English?) creates a film for you, good luck! in isolation, there are striking, almost self-indulgent, dramatically lit and contrasty shots. The Italian makers have deceived themselves if they thought they had made a film. It will make the viewer keep clear of Siberia, and value his own education, wherever else obtained. The disruption and lack of continuity incline the poor viewer to fast-forward in search of a coherent scene, or... the End.Only the printed lines of a short Preface give any coherent account of the situation. Jump-cuts, wilful lack of continuity, and the odd extraneous clip (e.g. Fall of the Berlin Wall), added to the trivial dialogue, increase the incoherence.