Men at Arms (2005)
"Malev" (original title)

A fake historic epic on the Middle Ages and Estonia's not-so-glorious past.

Director:

Kaaren Kaer

Writers:

Kaaren Kaer, Tõnis Leht,

Stars:

Ott Sepp, Mirtel Pohla, Uku Uusberg

Cast

Credited cast:
Ott Sepp	...	Uru
Mirtel Pohla	...	Ilge
Uku Uusberg	...	Tugis
Argo Aadli	...	Leholas
Üllar Saaremäe	...	Mentor Wolfram
Mait Malmsten	...	Brother Wismuth
Ain Mäeots	...	Lembitu
Merle Jääger	...	Lembela
Märt Avandi	...	Jurmala's bailiff Hippolyt
Raivo E. Tamm	...	Bishop Albert
Anti Kobin	...	Manivalde
Sergo Vares	...	Henry of Livonia
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dajan Ahmet	...	Chingis-Khan
Jim Ashilevi	...	Kaupo
Anton Klink	...	Soldier

Storyline

Year 1208. The first Eastward enlargement of Europe is under way. Brutal forces of the Teutonic Order are steadily marching on. In their path live a simple and peaceful people, whose main pastimes include cultivating the earth, singing and, if possible, doing both at the same time. They are the Estonians. Ignorant in the ways of war, they find an unlikely leader in a young boy with Catholic upbringing. In their fight for freedom, the Estonians encounter numerous obstacles, including the Germans, French, Russians and, worst of all, the Latvians. Will they succeed in defeating their enemies or will they experience a cultural awakening?

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Plot Keywords:

fight | europe | estonia | medieval times | fictional war | 

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Genres:

Action

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Details

Official Sites:

Exitfilm [Estonia] TipTheAuthors [EST]

Country:

Estonia

Language:

Estonian

Release Date:

9 September 2005 (Estonia)

Also Known As:

Men at Arms

Filming Locations:

Kuressaare, Estonia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eesti Televisioon (ETV), Exitfilm, Õ-Fraktsioon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References Braveheart (1995)

User Reviews

Deep touching film about history of Estonia, bright humor, parody of nowadays American historical movies

Film director Kaaren Kaer with his friends has made an excellent film about history of Estonia - little country in Eastern Europe. Some people call it parody, yes, may be it is parody of film. But actually it touches all the European history and many European countries (France,Italy, Germany, Russia)in 12th century. This film has surprisingly fresh feeling: I can call it also the parody of historical movies, author laughts about large scale American movies with thousands of fighters and the seas with blood. We can call it black humor, I can only admire directors courage to show his own country, people and history in such a sarcastic way.And this film is good way to understand the way of thinking of little countries and their strange culture. After I saw this film, I can say: this film discovers new style of historical movies, that is stylish and shocking as was Lars Von Triir's movie Idiots in 1998. If Western Europe has nothing to say anymore, Eastern Europe has not spoken yet!!!