Le clan des gangsters

I love John Malkovich and every time he is on screen the movie lights up. The way he portrays the character makes you almost forget about the characters talking English for no good reason (with an accent but still). It would have made sense if they talked in their native language. Obviously something Malkovich wouldn't be able to do. Still the movie has to say something about "education" and life itself. Boys will be boys ... until they grow up.

They can take different roads though, depending on the path they choose. It's obvious where this leads, though you have a distraction or two along the way (plus a time jumping theme all over the movie). That will either confuse some people (not me and a lot of others here on IMDb) or make them big fans of the movie itself. So it sets high goals, but doesn't achieve all of them. Life lessons for some, a nice story for others.

**contains spoilers** I just came out of the cinema and believe this movie is a really good one! In all Salvatores' movies there is a common thread, this is the subject of friendship. This time it is dealt in a very though way. It is possibly about a friend demanding attention up to the extreme gesture of being killed by the hand of his only friend. the whole story is developed in a non linear way, with continuous jumps in their childhood, but the plot is always very understandable and the storytelling captivating. Didn't read the book, so cannot make judgements on how well the director translated it into a movie, but actors, images, music, all seems to me to be working pretty well. It contains violent scenes and may not be your best choice for a romantic date, but I believe it deserves a better rating than it has now.

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.

I have been on imdb for over 5 years and never felt the need of writing a review. However, Deadly Code has gotten bashed for all the wrong reasons and couldn't help myself writing this one as the authors deserve more credit for coming up with this gritty story. Folks, this movie is NOT set in Siberia. Gagarin and Kolyma are NOT real names, they are obviously nicknames. Please research before criticizing a movie. This has a solid script and very good character development. Malkovich performance is absolutely hypnotic and brilliantly stands out. Personally, I also found the photography and editing compelling. I would recommend this movie to anyone interested in a crime story but tired of the average Hollywood scripts.

I enjoyed this little fictional piece because it's a story about an imaginary clan of criminals in a fictitious province in the USSR that was supposed to have been an open air prison for criminal families from all over the USSR. It isn't meant to be true or true-to-life.

Before seeing this film, I had never liked John Malkovich's characters in any of his films. This character of his was likable. I also liked Peter Stormare's character , Ink, the tattoo artist. The rest of the characters weren't really memorable, but the film was humorous in spots and entertaining on other levels.

Most of the 1 and 2 star reviews attack the story for not being an accurate depiction of life in Siberia. It isn't set in Siberia, it just focuses on a fictitious clan of criminals who were said to have been sent there from Siberia. I'm sure that all of those reviewers feel very self righteous and self satisfied for having set the record straight. Reviewers like those would probably write an entry for the Goofs section that reads: "The guy who is called Grandfather Kuzya is John Malkovich, not Grandfather Kuzya." Enough.