# Citizen X (1995) (TV)

### reviewed by
Michael Turton

Citizen X (1995)(Color) (TV) Directed by: Chris Gerolmo. Starring:Stephen Rea (Burakov), Donald Sutherland (Fetisov), Max Von Sydow (Bukhanovsky) and Jeffrey DeMunn (Chikatilo). Rated "R" for violence and violent themes Reviewed by Michael A. Turton Reviewer's Rating: 4.5/5

A cache of corpses is discovered in a forest. An inexperienced forensic pathologist suddenly finds himself in charge of the pursuit and capture of one of the century's most prolific serial killers. So opens _Citizen X_, another fine offering from HBO.

_Citizen X_ tells the story of the pursuit and capture of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered at least 52 people during a decade-long killing spree in Russia. Working train stations in his area, Chikatilo picked up drifters, targeting young people under 17, and took them to secluded places to kill them and dispose of the bodies.

The emotional force of this movie lies not in its depiction of yet another dull manhunt for a serial killer winding down to its foregone conclusion, but in its portrayal of the evolution of the relationship between the dedicated but bureacratically inept pathologist Burakov (Stephen Rea) and the urbane, influential Fetisov (Donald Sutherland), a colonel in the State Militia, each of whom elects to fight the cruel indifference of the Soviet system in his own way. Both actors push the envelopes of their limited acting range, culminating in the emotional climax of the film, a deeply moving scene in which Fetisov, after nine years of guiding and protecting Burakov, tells the latter how much he and others have come to admire him. Complementing the fine work of these two is Von Sydow, who has a small but highly significant role as the eccentric psychologist who finally gets the killer to confess. Jeffrey DeMunn contributes a strong performance as Chikatilo, a killer whose banal, working-class life is almost impossible to reconcile with the outre savagery of his crimes.

The film, shot in Hungary, has a grimy, realistic atmosphere which conveys the brutality and pathos of life in Soviet Russia through the appalling austerity of its sets and the references to deprivation and suffering, such as when Burakov appeals for a bigger apartment ("we've been waiting seven years") or when he expresses wonder that Fetisov was able to drop off a ham at their home. "A whole ham?" he asks in disbelief. For the real villain of the piece is not Chikatilo, who is as much as force of nature as a tornado or an earthquake, but the indifference of the system which Burakov must fight every step of the way in order to cope with this calamity which has been dropped in his lap.

If the film has any weaknesses, they are at the end, where we learn the fate of Chikatilo, but not of the main characters Burakov and Fetisov. The pace is steady and the directing and camera work competent. Although we see the killer at work again and again, and watch as Burakov becomes more and consumed by the case, the movie is never allowed to degenerate into a mere face-off between two men whose obsessions bring them into conflict with one another. The understated script (Rea's character often says nothing during major events in the film) is excellent, leavened with the kind of sardonic humor that men develop when they beat their heads against the wall for a decade.

            All in all, an enjoyable piece of work that leaves the viewer
    emotionally satisfied.  Well worth a look.  I give it a four and a half out
    of five.

    Copyright 1998 Michael A. Turton

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