DT: How did you choose and train the actors? A young man, Endel Nelis, arrives in Haapsalu, Estonia, in the early 1950s. What are our fears today, and how can we draw on them? When the children are invited to a tournament in Leningrad, Nelis risks everything to take them to the competition. Yes….The priority for the tiny Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania , facing the same catastrophic consequences at the hands of Soviet occupation was inevitably to fight to protect their nationhood as they were invaded by two evils; fascism or communism. It’s taken a lot of work and a lot of effort for the Estonians to build up their country. But they also render what would have been an at times harrowing real-life story into something safe and bland. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account.
Comment by Monika Birzenieks-Jones — February 27, 2020 @ 7:31 am, RSS feed for comments on this post. When you do historical films that are focused on the past, you need to also draw from the present. The knock at your door late at night was always bad news, and you see it in their eyes.
Benjamin Avila Copyright © Fandango. J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs & The Church of the SubGenius, Fall TV First Look: Find Out What’s Coming, The Best Peacock Original Shows and Movies, All Upcoming Disney Movies: New Disney Live-Action, Animation, Pixar, Marvel, and More. Frederick Wiseman Of course we didn’t do the film for this, but they were able to raise awareness of their little fencing club. Hiding out in the remote Estonian town of Haapsalu he has been advised to keep a low profile. 8,000 doesn’t sound like very much but in 1939 Estonia had a population of 1,122,000, just a bit larger than San Jose, California. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Son of Johannes Keller and Marie Keller (Tänav) It's surprising how polite and restrained everything is. They don’t have agents. Forgot your password? Following the war, the Soviets incorporated Estonia into the USSR. Following the war, the Soviets incorporated Estonia into the USSR. ex soviet countries have a notorious politbureau building still standing in their capital cities-still spoken about in hushed tones among those who lived with the knowledge of the interrogations that occurred there,prior to 1989. I was a newcomer. The folks in Estonia have a tendency not to talk too much about these things, but once you start getting to know them, you find that every family is connected to an event when a family member was taken away. There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. I chose not to talk with them so I wouldn’t be emotionally involved with what went on in real life and wouldn’t be able to tell the story in the best way. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! He arrives in the small Estonian town … John Ivory Father of Private and Private When it comes to the point where there’s no one to trust, no one to rely on, but you need… It’s just each one looking after themselves and asking the question, Is there a way out of this crap, this loneliness? The film is based on this fencing club, but at the same time it’s a dramatization and it’s also a David and Goliath story about little Estonia and the big Soviet Union, so there are three levels to it. If your knowledge of Estonia is based on these bare facts, you would tend to regard its citizens as a reactionary mob despite what is depicted in “The Fencer”. Shortly afterwards, tribunals were set up to try “enemies of the people” against a backdrop of demonstration elections that recorded a 92.8% preference for the Communist Party, the only one on the ballot of course. Coming Soon. | Rating: 1.5/4 When Nelis decides to take them out skiing, the principal informs him that the skis are currently being used at a military base for training. Managed by: Private User Last Updated: December 1, 2014 Can you talk abut carving that path for his emotional development? But like Ukraine, Estonia was not reflexively predisposed to anti-Communism.
Disapproving, the school's principal starts investigating Endel’s background.
He needed to know the choreography for those scenes so he could be a believable teacher. We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
When it came to the children, we had a casting director. Based on a true to life account of Endel Nelis, an Estonian fencer from Leningrad (St. Petersburg) who has to avoid the watchful eye of Stalinist authorities, the story takes place in the local school at Haapsalu.
It was great to hear their perspective about the film. As I had mentioned in my review of “Katyn”, how was it possible for the USSR to organize the execution of 22,000 Polish officers for the crime of being officers? A must see film about the communist GDR after the wall went up, called The Lives of Others which,although seen as more liberal, the Stasi controlled all in true sinister form.