Nimed marmortahvlil

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

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.

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.

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.

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.