Children of the Revolution

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Thank heavens for Rush's Best Actor Oscar. If he hadn't won the award, Children of the Revolution might never have found its way up from down under. This bold, irreverent comedy is an allegory of the unraveling of Communism. At a 1953 Communist Party meeting, devout Stalinist Joan Fraser (Davis) makes her hero swoon. The result: young Joe. Fraser's friend, Welch (Rush), marries her and raises the boy as his own son. But as Joe grows, it's obvious the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Davis's tempestuous zealot is a bravura comic turn, but her character captures the leftist disillusionment that accompanied Communism's demise.