Synopsis
We, Children of the 20th Century depicts street children from Saint Petersburg: harmless vagabonds, early smokers, but also burglars and even murderers. The collapse of taboos and established authority has significantly diminished their inhibitions. Even their parents no longer harbor any ambitions for them. In this social void, who will show these children what life should look like?
A word from Tënk
The reality captured by Kanevski is harsh, as he, in his youth, was one of those lost youths on the brink of delinquency whom he now encounters. The streets, the reformatory, the prison – these are the settings for the three stages of lost youth in 1990s Saint Petersburg. A terrible social mechanism emerges. How does one transition from being a runaway, escaping family and social misery, to becoming a thief, murderer or extortionist in post-communist Russia where factory work, the military, and the church are the only avenues for integration?
Yet tender is the gaze Kanevski casts upon them. He engages with them through language and imagery, devoid of pity or moralizing superiority, encouraging them to recount their misdeeds, articulate their experiences, thus initiating a process of self-reflection. In this tentative exploration of self-awareness, they shed their status as delinquents, while we relinquish our role as mere observers to receive what is offered there, unconditionally.
Cati Couteau
Filmmaker
