Crosswind - La croisée des vents

Snowfall in a birch grove, a woman toying with the ribbon of her dress, and wild apple blossoms radiant in the sunlight. The beautiful imagery belies a sinister history in which tens of thousands of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians were forcibly removed from their homes, separated from loved ones, starved and abused at the hands of the Soviet Union and Stalin. Many were exterminated. The world rarely notes those whose suffering endured long after World War II ended. In black and white tableaux vivants that are at once beautiful as they are tragic, and with passages from actual letters, audiences may begin to understand what happened here. "I promise I won't ever be mad at you again," a woman writes to her husband who, unknown to her, is among those put to death. "Just tell me how to find you," she pleads. The brutal ethnic cleansing is presented in such a way, through the personal experience of Erna and her little daughter Eliide, that is as spellbinding as it is sobering and sorrowful. The history lesson comes not in the form of a harangue, but is one of haunting beauty in requiem for the innocent tears and blood. "I see how you looked at me when we first met," a woman writes of a dream "and I hear your voice telling me that we will be together forever." In this brilliant piece by a new director, these enthralling voices will finally be heard and remembered. One of my favorite films, also known as Risttuules, at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

75 years ago, in the early hours of June 14, 1941, more than 40,000 people were deported from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. That was the beginning of mass banishments to Siberia and other remote regions of the USSR promoted by the Soviet authorities. Under secret orders of Stalin, this operation was aimed to remove dissidents of the socialist regime from their home countries to quell any opposition, and promote ethnic cleansing of the region. Among these thousands of deportees was Erna Tamm (Laura Peterson) and his family (daughter and husband). The movie Risttuules (original title) or In the Crosswind (in English) was inspired by the letters of Erna written from Siberia to her husband, Heldur (Tarmo Song), from whom she was separated by the Soviets.

In his first movie, the estonian director Martti Helde was bold in its proposal: to make an art film, in black and white, through the technique of tableaux vivants, to photographically recreate the memories described in the letters. As opposed to the traditional cinematographic narrative, the tableaux vivant makes use of static shot, in which the characters stand still as the camera slowly travels through the environment. The observed time is frozen, allowing us to focus the subtle details of each scene as well as the expressions of the actors and their body language. Everything leads us to believe that we are facing a common photographic representation, which is only denied by the wind moving some objects, such as clothing, branches and leaves or sheets of paper. The voice-over of Laura Peterson complements the recreation of those memories describing events and the feelings of the protagonist.

Erna Tamm led a normal and happy life with her family until the war came into their lives. To portray this radical and abrupt change the time started to elapse in another dimension, being marked by the composition of tableaux vivants images. And it remained so until the end of this tragic and distressing period in the life of the protagonist, when the war came to an end. Throughout this journey we take notes of the Soviet cruelties, with the deportees being transferred in inhumane conditions inside animal wagons, suffering humiliations, being subjected to forced labor, hunger, cold, aside from the lost of relatives, friends and above all, their freedom. The soundtrack and ambient sounds help to characterize the mourning atmosphere and the melancholy of the film: almost all hope was lost.

The human tragedy experienced by the inhabitants of the Baltic countries resulted in more than 590,000 victims of the holocaust during the Soviet occupation. With the break up of the USSR, Russia, its successor, aside from maintaining a rhetoric that denies the crimes committed, even glorifies the Soviet past, its leaders, symbols and actions.

Aesthetically impeccable, made to be contemplated, as every work of art is intended to be, and with a slow pace, In the Crosswind is definitely not a film for the general public. The way it is narrated flee from the ordinary way and might not please everyone, causing strangeness and monotony in some viewers. Far beyond the story that is intended to be told, the film provides an unique sensory experience that is at the same time sad but beautiful.

Originally posted in: https://vikingbyheart.blogspot.com.br

If ever a movie deserved to be called an art film, this 2014 Estonian film is it (trailer). Director Martti Heide's full-length debut chronicles Stalin's 1941 sudden overnight deportation of 40,000 citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to forced labor camps in Siberia. Families were separated, people worked in slave-labor conditions, food was minimal, and many starved. No food was provided for children. The story, based on a real-life diary, follows the experiences of Erna, a young wife and mother (played by Laura Peterson) desperate to reunite with her husband Heldur (Tarmo Song) and return home. While the story is perhaps typical for people in such brutal circumstances, the way of filming it is not. Heide took months sometimes to set up his shots, which are filmed in long, unedited, silent takes (with a soundtrack of gunshots, trains, creaking cartwheels, and so on added later). But the people do not move. Nor is there dialog. Peterson narrates in voice-over the entries from Erna's diary, as a series of letters to Heldur. Instead of action, the camera weaves among the actors, as they stand frozen in position. In an early scene, it circles Erna and Heldur embracing among the passengers waiting to be herded aboard a train, then moves on through the crowd. Then it finds Erna again, leaning out of the cattle car door, looking for Heldur, who stands in the distance. Watching this movie is like examining a series of richly detailed still photographs. Remarkable. The technique symbolically mimics the way life stood still for the refugees. While it results in a slowly unfolding story, for me, the film was very powerful. Only when Erna is at home, in the beginning scenes and in reverie, do people move in a conventional way. To paraphrase what one refugee said, the Soviet Union might have my body, but my heart (what animates me) is still in Estonia.

Had to watch at school. Noob movie make me sleep.

Sad

...not only beautiful. or painful. or moving. but useful. for the artistic virtues, off course. but, more important, as remember. not only about the Baltic tragedy. but for each people moved far by his homeland under Soviet regime. Tatars, Bukovinians, Polish, Basarabians. the splendid grace of image. the fine performance. the sound of words. and wise use of letters. a sort of magic. in fact, just key. for define the Eastern recent past .