Nimed marmortahvlil

I was anxious in seeing this movie, because this is biggest budgeted estonian film and there was a great fuzz about it. Well, the movie was above average.

The acting was good, considering that most of the actors were very young boys, who had just graduated acting school. The estonian commander didnt seem belivible to me, he just didnt look like a leader.

The biggest let down were the war scenes, where the russian soldiers couldnt hit any of the standing estonians and the machine gun fire didnt mowe down enough russians. The "love" scenes were a bit long, considering that the movie was quite short. I havent read the book that this movie was based on, there shouldnt be much differences in the story.

I will give this movie 7/10 points, it is the 2nd best Estonian movie IMO, after "Viimne reliikvia".

Ladies and gents, the most overrated Estonian movie of all times. Yes - it is at times warm and touching, it boasts splendid cinematography, it lacks the daft, aggressive jingoism painfully present in most patriotic flicks (read: American ones) and is not exaggerated like the aforementioned usually tend to be.

So "Names In Marble" is not a bad movie per se. Having said that, there are things that add up to a heavy reduction in its overall value.

I personally found it irritating how Elmo Nüganen had chosen to ignore Albert Kivikas' novel and write an insipid and even quite cheesy plot riddled with holes. Nüganen obviously failed to decide whether to make a pompous war epic or a minimal, realistic drama. So he chose both. I don't know what my fellow countrymen sought in the movie; I myself found the overdramatized battle scenes (rip-offs from Saving Private Ryan, mind you) to be painfully out of place. As well as the romantic sub-plot which didn't exist in the novel in the first place. But since action and/or romance are the things that mainly appeal to an average moviegoer, you'd simply _have_ to include both - and ruin excellent script material in the process. Quite sad.

The acting is OK, but just that. No, there is nothing tearjerking in this movie, sorry to say so. Yes, the subject matter is extremely personal to us Estonians, but I found the novel a thousand times more touching and thought-provoking than this "blockbuster". And if you think that this is the very defining moment in Estonian cinematography, think again.

Oh, well. Without further ado: if you're an Estonian or a non-Estonian pathologically fascinated with local culture, and haven't yet seen the movie - go and see it, although be warned: you haven't missed anything. Otherwise do this: look up Olli Saarela's "Rukajärven tie", a splendid recent addition to a fine series of Finnish war dramas ("Talvisota", "Tuntematon sotilas"). Because while "Names in Marble's" only significant value stems from its patriotic sting, "Rukajärven tie" is actually a cinematic achievement in the best sense of the term.

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

A story of Estonian high school students who volunteer to defend their country from the Bolshevik invasion in 1918. The only reason to give this film 7 stars is the Estonian film industry context. For Estonia, this film is truly great. Not only it covers previously poorly presented (in the visual art) part of this country's history, it also is very well made camera work wise and the action scenes are done properly. But the director perhaps could have swapped some of the pathetic patriotism (obviously borrowed from the book the film is based on) for real-life attitude. I'll never believe that 17-year-old boys will be that desperately willing to sacrifice their lives and virtually act as if they long for the Red Army bullets. Natural human fear of death is what makes any war scene so much more realistic.

I was really looking forward to see this movie. When finally I saw it on TV in Latvia I thought that Estonians have really done it well. Of course it isn't masterpiece but history also is not as beautiful as we would want to see it. 5 countries around the Baltic sea gained their independence in those years (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland)and each deserves to tell their own story to the world. For me it was a beautiful story about young people and the decisions they must make in crucial situations. Unfortunately, they couldn't make the same decisions when they were older and experienced (or maybe they couldn't because of it). For me it was interesting to see the portrait of Latvians in the war against Estonia. As one Finnish guy said he didn't understand why Latvians fought against Estonia. It was because those Latvians weren't supporters of independent Latvia. Latvia's real army wasn't fighting against Estonia. As it is for Finland we Latvians also must say thanks that independent Estonia later helped to fight against both the Soviets and the remains of German army.That in territory of Estonia was formed part of the independent Latvian army. These Latvians showed in this movie were communists who fought to build communism in Latvia. At that time there were 3 different governments in Latvia (1st independent Latvian, 2nd communist government, 3rd German-orientated government) so it is complicated not only for foreigners to understand but for Latvians who don't know history so well too.