Nimed marmortahvlil

While many of us know the general outlines of World War I and of the fate of the Baltic republics up until their regained independence in the early 1990's, this movie is a valuable addition of flesh and blood to a complicated historic phase: the fight for the Estonian territory. Among the fighting parties: Estonians, "red" Soviet Russians, "white" Russians, Germans, Finns and Latvians. Add to this youthful idealism, a light romantic episode and lots of atmosphere and you will agree that it is well worth its 90 minutes.

The film is especially interesting to anyone with an interest in World War I, Soviet/Russian history or the Baltic region but just as much to anyone interested in more nuanced war/ action films.

Estonians see this film in a little different light than the other people. As a Finn I think Estonians should be proud of this film even if it's not necessarily even a great movie in pure artistic sense. I watched this film with sentiment and that's why I rate it so high. Estonian history concerns us Finns too and we're sorry that you suffered from Russian rule for so long time. We Finns are also happy that you managed to fend off the Red Army in 1918, for their next target would definitely been Finland. The Red Danger was over only in 1920 with the Tarto Treaty, which meant the end of enmities with the Soviet Union. That treaty was signed by both Finns and Estonians and one Finnish General has said that it was only that contract that ended the Finnish Civil War too. He meant that the Estonian war for Freedom was a part of Finnish war for Freedom as well.

I consider 'Nimed Marmortahvlil' as a very interesting movie and I don't think many Finns will disagree with me. The film has been broadcast in Finland twice and I have it on DVD, because it has a special value for me. I confess I might like it less if Peter Franzén had not played in the film. I also admit that the action scenes are not very great: there are over-acting and over-dramatizing but using that ancient light machine-gun in the final battle is interesting. The informal nature of the Estonian army is also notable as they all were just young volunteers without any military training. The action also happens in a minor scale, there is no real epic, and the event frame is somewhat odd to me. I don't figure out what the clock is symbolizing and what are those Latvians doing in Estonia except fighting, of course. Well, I guess the clock symbolizes the battle for Freedom in some sense and the Latvians are fighting for the Communism and not for Latvia. Despite these 'grand mysteries' I find this film very special.

The story is set in 1919, just after WWI has ended and the reds took over half of Europe. I wouldn't call them Russians, as you'll find out from the movie, that besides Russians there were Latvians and even Estonians in the red army. Unfortunately history repeats itself, in war it happens that brother fights against brother, or blood against blood.

It's a patriotic movie, of course. Estonians, as many other nations in the world fought for their freedom. What I liked in this movie is that it gave back very well the atmosphere of that time (excellent photography, and CGI perhaps) and also depicted very nicely the Estonian coutryside. Watching this movie I felt the urge to visit this country. Also liked very much that the film didn't want to make heroes. In contrary, it showed the weekness of these young students, the fear they felt being in war, killing other people. They were just victims of the war.

I bet this is one of the highest budgeted Estonian movies. But still very low budgeted comparing to American movies of the same category. So don't expect the same war scenes. However I liked it, as it is.

Only thing I can criticize in this movie is that the story is a bit too simple, too obvious. That's why I rated it 7/10. However it's an outstanding movie.

This movie is totally for people who like foreign movies. And it really is the best movie, shot in Estonia (though Tarkovski's S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was also shot in Estonia) and by Estonians. I only disliked the ending, when the main character turned into a Rambo-like character. That was a shitty idea. A bigger budget would have given the movie something more, though it had a huge budget for an Estonian movie. Computer graphics was so good, that know one knows, there were any, actually they used CGI to hide things in city-scene, they copied some soldiers and they made other changes as well...

And those who don't know about the war in the movies, should know, that there were similar wars in almost every Eastern-Europe countries between 1917-1920, cause Russia was weakened and unstable because of the World War I, and freedom fighters had good chances due that.

7.5/10

The record-making, dazzling and thrilling Estonian blockbuster `Names in Marble' has brought nearly 150,000 people all over the country out of their comfortable homes to see something that takes your breath away.

The story evolves around a group of young schoolboys who decide to alter the course of history once and for all - to fight against the Soviet army and for the freedom of the new Republic of Estonia.

`Names in Marble' opens a doorway to a new dimension of Estonian cinema. Directed by Elmo Nüganen who is famous for his interpretation of many classical plays in several theatres in Estonia, the movie has a unique sense of closeness and significance that is not common for other Estonian movies. Nüganen adds another flavour to the picture by hiring the well-known Russian cameraman Sergei Astakhov to record the key scenes and arrange the almost perfect cinematography of the movie.

Another astonishment that the moviegoers might experience is the great work of some young and promising Estonian actors. The sincerity and clarity of the leading role, played by Priit Võigemast represents the possibilities and potential of Estonian cinema in reaching an international level.

It is unfortunate that the best yet Estonian movie has absolutely has no chance of getting a nomination for the `Best foreign film' Academy award - it lacks a certain multi-cultural perspective.

In the end it brought tears to the eyes, it did matter and it made us sit in the theatre until all the credits were shown and lights came on, reminding us how important it is to be who we are.