Cain's Children
A compelling documentary suggesting that capitalism has proved just as oppressive to the people of Eastern Europe as communism.
This chilling effort from Marcell Gerö was conceived in response to a Hungarian documentary assembled in 1984 and almost immediately banned by the Soviet Union. Focused on teenage killers and over-subscribed penal institutes, the earlier movie was undoubtedly a bleak affair, but one that fit snugly within the state's oppressive political climate. What makes Cain's Children such a compelling watch is the way it illuminates social ills that have persisted following the westernisation of eastern Europe. Gerö tracks down and profiles three of the original piece's subjects, and finds that, just as a communist regime let them down, capitalism proved no saviour.
Here we are presented with archive footage of the trio reflecting on their crimes, experiences of prison and plans for the future. Naturally, none of their aspirations have come to pass. One man spends his time in squats and abandoned train carriages, scavenging for cans to sell onto recycling banks. Another, a teary-eyed alcoholic, spends his days awkwardly hovering around the periphery of a family from which he has been ostracised. A final subject reflects bitterly upon the world from a jail cell. It's this nihilistic serial offender who finally articulates the film's fatalistic polemic. While his peers regret their crimes and bemoan a system that blocks their efforts to reintegrate into society, we're asked to consider that the circumstances and environment into which the boys found themselves made their decisions for them.
Cain's Children screens in Glasgow Film Festival: 25 Feb, GFT, 8.30pm | 26 Feb, GFT, 1.15pm
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