This is one of the best murder mysteries that I've ever seen. If you're drawn to the macabre in films, you must see this one. Its pacing feels very slow, reflecting the tragic nature of the true story. Still, inside that apparent slowness much action occurs. Never energetic action like chase scenes, but the actions taken to solve the case. The film seems to crawl, but you're not bored.The depiction of the 1980s Soviet system is interesting and there are a couple of scenes that deal with the emotional pain experienced by the main investigator (Rea) that are very moving.How this wonderful film has never gotten significant adulation is beyond me. I guess that is because it was a made-for-TV movie.

l have two different DVD movie about this most prolific serial killer Chikatilo and Citizen X is the best of them,drives force into a different view of forensic investigation,brings technically more specific things from the back-stages in a closed red country,the killer stay in second plan,it's quite clear in the beginning when the killer is introduced for audience,no secret at all,a powerful casting help to much the high pattern and the status of the movie,however has some disparate points that don't filled the blank according the documentary that come together in the DVD release.Resume: First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Andrei Chikatilo was a serial killer in the Soviet Union. Over the course of twelve years, he murdered 52 women and children in the Russian, Ukrainian and Uzbek SSRs. Chris Gerolmo's "Citizen X" focuses on a coroner's investigation into the murders and the government's refusal to report on the murders, since they didn't want to have to admit that there was crime in the USSR (supposedly, such things only existed in the west). Stephen Rea plays the overworked coroner, and Donald Sutherland plays the head of a provincial committee charged with law enforcement, but the movie really belongs to Jeffrey DeMunn as the murderer. He portrays Chikatilo as a disturbed, lonely individual who just happened to be a remorseless killer. One could almost feel sorry for him, were he not a monster.I recommend the movie. It's a safe bet that everyone in the Soviet Union breathed a sigh of relief after that fiend got arrested. The rest of the cast includes Max von Sydow, Joss Ackland, John Wood (Prof. Falken in "WarGames") and Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies).Another movie about Andrei Chikatilo is 2004's "Evilenko", starring Malcolm McDowell as a fictionalized version of him.

This is a compelling drama. I agree with comments praising Stephen Rae, Donald Sutherland and Geoffrey DeMunn for their performances. I would add further commend the atmospheric music by Randy Edelman. It is one of the few films I can watch repeatedly and not get tired of it.But, it is not the whole truth. Yes, there was a serial killer Chikatilo, and yes he was hunted down with a relentless determination by Burakov with the help of Fetisov. But these real men and their methods were not the characters portrayed by Rea and Sutherland. Burakov was a man of the Soviet system who believed in it and applied its methods in his work. These methods included "obtaining confessions from suspects". It was this fixation with obtaining confessions under duress that was one reason the police wasted years chasing false leads. It would not have generated sympathy in Western audiences to have shown this story - so the reality was changed to fit the fable of a lonely hero fighting a bungling system.Read Robert Cullen's "The Killer Departmen" for the full (real) story. Watch the film for a first-class detective yarn in exotic circumstance.