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.

Every second, every moment in this movie is lie. This movie is based on it. 'Urkas' is not a nation. 'Urkas' is the name of criminals in Russia. There is no Russian name 'Kolyma'. 'Kolyma' is the name of Russian town, not a human name. There is no Russian name 'Gagarin'. 'Gagarin' is the surname (last name) of the first cosmonaut in the world. Georgians in this movie is not look like real georgians. If you don't know how they really look, type in Google 'Georgians' and you'll see it. Jews in this movie looks like... goths. This is only some moments in this movie that are not truth, because if I begin to describe every lying of this movie, I can write a whole book. This movie is dishonest. If you want to see the real life of Russian criminals, I recommend you to see the Russian movie 'Bespredel'.

I've read some pretty bad reviews of this film that are unwarranted in my opinion. I'll address some of the complaints with my answers.1. The accents. American movies that contain characters who are Russian (or from that area of the globe) used bad accents. I don't particularly love it, BUT, there really isn't another way to convey the ethnic tones of these movies. American viewers don't speak any of these languages, and it would be even more stupid with American actors playing the roles in perfect English. It's easy to poke fun at, I'll admit, but it's not as badly done in this flick as some have said. Yes, there are a few rough moments, but they aren't that bad unless you're intentionally trying to nit pick. 2. The "chaotic" cut scenes. I've seen a few reviews complaining about how the sequence of the scenes. It's a bit hard at first to tell what's going on with this, but it becomes clear very quickly.3. Complaints about "Flick Knives" and gratuitous violence. Really? It's a story about a criminal ghetto. I'd imagine life was just as tough as was portrayed in the movie, and likely worse at times. Trust me, the violence isn't overplayed, and honestly there were a few places it seemed underplayed given the subject matter.I'd say just ignore the reviews and watch it if you're curious. I felt the story was engaging, the characters were interesting, and if you take a minute to think about it, the plot elements are all relevant (contrary to other reviews I've read). I gave it a 10 because I've always been interested in this part of the world, and love John Malkovich. I could see most folks landing between 7-8 if they like it, 5-6 if they didn't like it. I couldn't see rating it a 1 star as some people have done.

I thought it was average, with acting ranging from bad to good and similar fluctuations of the script. I did not read the book, nor did I know it was biographical. It was recommended to me, I watched it and I liked it. My wife loved it, though.Somewhere in a punishment town in Transnistria the law has little power and the clans are dividing territory, each with their own tradition and rules. The protagonist is part of the Siberian clan, which in almost all intent and purposes is a version of the old Cosa Nostra. After all, it was an Italian movie, right? :)But let's not be bad. The thing that hurt the film most had to be the title. The main title is in Italian, even if the people are speaking English. I actually got it first in Italian, only to see that people were speaking something else underneath.The story itself seems a bit too complex for a film and so it becomes clear that it is based on a book. Being a biographical book I can hardly blame the story and having not read the original material I can similarly not fault the script. The acting is reasonable, especially considering most of the actors did not play in many other films. The direction is good.I don't know if one gets to learn anything from this other than what certain criminal clans think like. The film does speak of character, but when that character makes you live in a dump town, spend some time in jail, lose your love, get to join the Russian army, then kill a friend, it is hard to see the value in it. Bottom line: watchable, but not memorable.