Very disappointed :(

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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.

This movie is interesting to watch. I haven't seen an Estonian movie before and i was impressed with the people, surroundings, history and language(I haven't heard Estonian before, but it sounds almost like Finnish to me).The environments are astounding, and the actors are OK, the movie really tries to give a picture in which neither the Soviets nor the Germans should continue to dominate Estonia. Thats why the main actors fight against the Soviet invasion.Since we get to follow some students and a landowner, we are a little limited to only a few peoples view of the Soviet/independence dilemma, which is understandable, however, it would have been interesting to see these events through the eyes of a poor person.There are a couple of remarks i would like to make. I don't like that the Estonians that took part on the soviet side (the reds) are in this movie evildoers that kill people on the streets and rape innocent women. Since i have not read independent Estonian history this might be the whole truth, but this movie should at least have given a explanation to "why?" they (all) are so evil to get a better "vote" from me.I'm not that fond of love stories in war movies, and this movie contains a love story that not should have been there. It's just silly, it gave me nothing i haven't seen 1000 times before.The fighting and excitement of battle is totally OK, but there is an element of exaggeration, that lowers credibility, but its still high quality.To sum up, it's a well made war movie, better than most, but Estonian film makers still have to do better to actually give us something we haven't seen in the cinema's yet. 7/10 mostly because of Estonian environment.

At the beginning, when boys are in the classroom, discussing the war (is it right or not, should they join or not, on who`s side to go), one of the boys writes down the names who are in the classroom. During war several of the boys die, Ahas (Võigemast) escapes in lucky way: as he changes his coat on his girlfriend`s fathers coat, he goes to camp and the Germans take him for Lithuanian as he speaks proper russian.When the war ends, one schoolboy enters the classroom and the names written at the classboard are still there, as no-one ever erased them, (I think the boys left straight in the war without having a lesson)...