Die Kinder des Fechters

I came across this gem by accident. A friend gave me several movies and I only just found this one 8 months later. I found this movie extremely touching. The pace was slow but I found that this accentuated the underlying emotions and I was captivated from start to finish. I have certainly seen other movies with this basic plot but this movie stood out because the performances were deep and poignant. I like many Hollywood movies but this was noticeably different: At once simpler -- with less "action" and less dialogue and less "spelling everything out" and maybe at the same time more complex because of what was portrayed in a look or a silence. Glad I watched this.

Last year, we could all witness the fame of Estonian-Georgian film Tangerines which got both Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination, and lots of fame and praise among exacting audience. And another surprise already this year - the film in question, a Finnish/German/Estonian co-production which was nominated for Golden Globe "only"...

As I kept track of the origin and development of this film, I did not even think of it as a kind of sports film, although fencing plays here a significant role, both directly and in the background. Later I have read that several foreign viewers had previously perceived it as a sports film but were pleasantly surprised afterwards that it was no Rocky within the different kind of sports but a realistic picture of a Stalin-era town in a Soviet Estonia. The atmosphere and environment are depicted in a realistic manner, enhanced by post-WWII poverty and gray weather scenes, but there is enough space for human dimension and even some romance.

Althouh the plot is not totally smooth, the great performances and taut moments provide additional value to the film. Actors like Märt Avandi or Hendrik Toompere could be easily used abroad as well, and all children did their best (in many films, children lines seem mugged up, but not here).

All in all, a good film about surviving and making choices under tough and unpredictable circumstances, when every "hobby" or non-ideological endeavour helped to move beyond the misery around - at least temporarily.

"The Fencer" is a typical sports and underdog film: which make you root for the underdog. It's slightly different from many others in that there is some history for solid context: however, that also has been done so far, and the director does not experiment much with the pace of the film. Some of the landscapes are beautiful, and in my opinion they afforded the director to be much slower and absorbed in the atmosphere, like the German film "Barbara" did, but that does not happen. However, the film is a lovely watch and touches your heart because of the fine cast: a special mention should be made here for the boy (Joonas Koff) playing Jaan, who has given the most impressive performance of the film.

Beautifully shot, a script where not a word is wasted and acting that conveys the harshness and guarded nature of adults living under an authoritarian regime.

An Estonian fencer takes a job teaching physical education at an out-of-the-way school in the 1950's. Despite the lack of resources, and a principal who thinks there is more to this man than he is letting on, he decides to set up a fencing club for the children which draws the kind of attention from the authorities he was trying to avoid.

When I first heard about this film, I was rather apprehensive about its portrayal of fencing. Too often such films fall prey to unrealistic swordplay, or to relegating the fencing to some metaphors and maybe a lunge every now and then.

Not so with this movie. Not only are the lessons portrayed in a realistic way, the tournament itself had the feel of an actual tournament and the actions executed looked like they were supposed to. I did notice the modern scoring system was used, but I assume this is so as not to confuse the viewer; the old system kept track of hits scored against a fencer, and as such the numbers would be reversed.

History-wise, it gave a good picture of the time period and the perils in which Soviet citizens found themselves.

In my eyes, the only 'weak point' would be that the underdog story is a rather standard one, but I honestly didn't feel that it detracted from the movie at all.