El último duelo

The 2016's Golden Globe nominee and also Finland's submission for the Oscars in the same year, but failed to get into the final five. Produced by the Baltic nations that set in when Estonia was a part of the USSR in the early 50s. It chronicles the story of Endel Nelis, a man who's on the run arrives in a small town called Haapsalu to teach the school children sports.

As his life is in danger, he intends to keep a low profile for a while. But seems everything is turning around him against him when he decides to teach his students fencing. It brings a large attention to the surroundings. Then comes a time where he must confront what he's hiding from which brings an end to the narration with little extended end part that reveals further details about the later event.

"It's good to have them focus on something, keep them occupied. It takes their mind off things."

This is a very short story, but somehow the movie managed to run for the 90 minutes with a good pace. It did not cover the entire life story of Endel Nelis, but a small slice. So you definitely feel desperate to know about his past, but this film does not compromise on that. It has a great background score, and overall it is a very inspiring movie.

The actors were so simple, but very good in their parts. Other than the lead character Endel, the two kids Marta and Jaan were excellent. The romance was as its sub-plot, but the theme was sport so all the concentration on the fencing and nothing else. In a couple of sections it feels so cliché, but since it was based on the real, there's nothing to do about it than accepting it.

Fencing is not a popular sport in the world, so it is good to see a movie about it, but sadly it was not internationally well recognised. Like I said earlier the story was quite small, so I can't describe it in a large scale. I think I said everything I wanted to. In its limitedness the movie was pretty impressive. Not everyone who saw it going to suggest it for you, but it is worth a try.

7½/10

"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.

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.

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.

a true story. this is , in too many cases, the most attractive detail. in the case of "The Fencer", the things are little more complicated. because it is, like many Estonian films, first a testimony. about politic pressure, about refuge, about passion and fundamental change. it is not easy to define it only as impressive/motivational/lovely film. because, using a well known recipes, it is a film about conscience. about self definition, honesty and duty. and, maybe, this is the great virtue of the director. to say what must be said. the story of Endel is the story of many "sinners" against Soviet rules. and this fact did it a beautiful eulogy of freedom. for me, this detail did it an admirable work.