Directed by Klaus Härö (Letters to Father Jacob; Mother of Mine) and starring Märt Avandi (Kättemaksukontor (TV Series); I Was Here), Kirill Käro (Rodina; Saint Valentine's Night), Lembit Ulfsak (Kid Detectives and the Secret of the White Lady; Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg; I Was Here) and Liisa Koppel (Kid Detectives and the Secret of the White Lady).
Historical drama; 93 mins; in Estonian, Finnish and Russian, with EN sub-titles
A powerful drama set in the the late 1940s based on the true story of a young Estonian fencer, Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi), who is forced to flee his homeland to Estonia after the Nazi occupation. He becomes a physical education teacher at a rural school, still in an environment where everyone is continually looking over their shoulders.
He quickly learns that there is no gym equipment, but he does have use of a run-down hall. As things turn out, he starts to teach the children how to fence, with young Marta (Liisa Koppel) forcing Endel to drop his guard and start caring.
One poignant scene shows the grandfather (Lembit Ulfsak) of one of the schoolchildren who had spoken out at a meeting, being arrested and taken away to a labour camp. Most of the children's fathers were not around as they were away fighting or had been sent to camps.
During his time at the school, he keeps up irregular contact with a friend, Aleksei (Kirill Käro), who warns him to stay away from finland and large cities such as Leningrad, but helps by sending some fencing equipment to the school.
A powerful drama which has emotional highs, particularly involving scenes with the schoolchildren. The scenes at the fencing competition in Leningrad are particularly powerful, with the entire firm driven by a sensational sound-track. The village and the countryside are suitably stark and bleak, in keeping with the times, with everyone feaful of the authorities and the Russian secret police, as Endel's part catches up with him.
