Wonderful character development!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

What I liked about the movie: I was personally affected: I was a bit of a Joosep during some of my school years (being good at French and liking ballads didn't really help my standing). I thus could very much relate to the feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness and it brought some of these feelings back. However now I can look at that time from the point of my life I am in now which makes it all less terrible - The depiction of complete injustice that eats at the audience and hopefully makes those that help in producing such injustice realize what is going on.The troubled father-son relationship and the inability to communicate. Again something I can relate to very well - The movie has the right length to tell its story. It is never rushed but also never drags plot point out for too long - By the end of the movie I was rooting for them to start shooting. A film must be well-made for me to want someone to commit a horrible act. I felt almost relieved when the inevitable finally happened - The inability of the adults to act and to understand the gravity of the situation. The reactions of the teachers and parents are abysmal in many respects.Let's be real: I watched a movie in Estonian.. I felt really arty after that ;) What I didn't like about the movie: Character development is a little weak, especially with Kaspar. If the 7-day plot isn't meant to be symbolic, for Kaspar to turn from respected clique-member to cold-blooded killer in 7 days seems implausibleThe shooting scene seems implausible in a lot of aspects: why don't any of the students who clearly see the gun when they enter the school say anything, why does Kaspar continue to shoot when he realizes as he says himself: "I killed a girl from the 8th grade"The acting wasn't on par but as I understand most of them were not professional actors which is a symbolic touch that makes the below-par acting forgivable Some of the humiliation seems a bit exaggerated especially as some of the attackers don't really have motivation to do these things and to go to yet another level of humiliation every single day All in all: A very good movie with some character development, plot and acting flaws, which still deserves it's 9 rating because of what it made me feel and how it reminded me of my past and because of the direct and mind-boggling way it manages to depict injustice.

Really sad movie, i feel sympathy, raw filming technique? Yes. When i was in the early school classes like 10-12 years old, i got bullied somewhat. Definitely not a lot but alittlebit. Now when in higher school age i am 15 i am not bullied at all pretty much. But this movie was great, really feel sympathy. That's just crazy to bully someone like that. Good job for standing up for the bullied. I would like to stand up for a bullied guy also, and beat the bullies. The father of the bullied is a total jerk and very bad. But that's to spice up the movie.Great Estonian movie, i give it 9/10. Not 10/10 perfect just cant give it. But a great movie!

man, first time i write a review in IMDb since i was introduced to this site around 2004 or 2005. can't really remember the exact year but that was several years back. i usually just post comments. well, going back to the movie, man, this is the only movie where i could not stop crying. like every scene makes me cry. it was just so sad. i feel so sad for Joosep. it's so sad to be bullied everyday. having one bully is too much already. how much more the entire class? he has too much perseverance. if i was in his situation, i would have surrendered a long, long time ago. man, i really could not stop crying. i was bullied when i was a kid so i know how it feels to be ridiculed and made fun of by your classmate. the others did not bully me but they condone it. they did not do anything to stop it. they just watched her bully me. now that we both grown ups, we cool now. she petite thin girl while am tall and big. so there's no way she can bully me again. i remember crying by myself hiding from people so that no one would see me cry. it hurts to be bullied. you feel so alone and that no one cares about you. you got no friends. and they always make fun of you. i would tell my grown family member that i would be absent from class and that if she would attend for me. and she would laugh and ask why? and i would just say that am not feeling well. and she would be amused and tell me that she can't substitute me for her. and i feel uneasy again knowing that i would have to see my bully again the next school day. well even if am grown i still feel bullied by my co workers. i guess am just like joosep, never have the guts to stand up and fight for oneself. i love this movie. speaks volumes to me.

The story does not feel authentic it feels in some parts manufactured. Parents behavior and the children's behavior is very believable, but I am having trouble with the principal and some of the teachers, not that they don't want to see, which often happen, but that they so easily buy lies fed to them, being senior as all of them are they should know better than so quickly threaten the very victims in this movie without investigating more. It seems manufactured just to prove the point that grownups don't understand.So the whole movie plays and you're sitting there seeing no solution to the root cause of the problem, and also feeling the director want no solution to the problem, and you are wondering if that is all this movie is about, to have an experience with no real point in the end.But in the end the point around which this movie is built is revealed. And it is a very important subject. The movie itself I give a 4 but since the subject is so important, reflecting recent real life tragedies, I add 2.And I share the writer/producers possible view that with 95% certainty what is shown in the movie is the cause of tragedies like these.