‘The Thief’ Is A Plot Without Real People

Extremely attractive people behave extremely unattractively in Russia’s “The Thief.”

One of this year’s Oscar nominees for best foreign-language film, it’s a metaphoric drama about how Joseph Stalin pulled the wool over the eyes of Russia’s people. Stalin’s stand-in is the title character, a swarthy brooder named Tolyan who works his way into the life of a woman and her impossibly apple-cheeked son. Just in case you didn’t notice that Tolyan is a Stalin metaphor, he has a convenient tattoo of Papa Joe on his chest.

At first, the three of them make a fine blended family, but it gradually becomes clear that Tolyan is not whom he appears to be. Will mother and son find out in time? Will Russia extricate itself from Stalin’s brutal grip? Will the movie find a way to ensure that its characters seem like people and not just constructs of the plot? No; yes, but way too late; and no.

Writer/director Pavel Chukhrai is so intent on his central metaphor that he ignores the psychosexual underpinning of the story, which may remind you of the learning-aboutsex-too-soon theme of “The Go-Between.” Plus, his failure to sketch in the relationships leaves “The Thief” with no human element, so it moves as slowly and ineffectively as the Five-Year Plan.

“THE THIEF” Location: Lincoln Heights Cinema Art Credits: Directed by Pavel Chukhrai, starring Vladimir Mashkov, Ekaterina Rednikova, Misha Philipchuk Running time: 1:30 Rating: Not rated, but contains full nudity and some bad language