The Singing Revolution (2006)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Directors:

James Tusty
Maureen Castle Tusty

Writers:

Mike Majoros (written by)
James Tusty (written by)

Release Date:

December 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Most people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions. But song was the weapon of choice when...

Plot Keywords:

Revolution | Estonia | Peace | Soviet Union | Cold War

Cast

Heiki Ahonen	...	Himself
Gustav Ernesaks	...	Himself (archive footage)
Linda Hunt	...	Narrator
Mari-Ann Kelam	...	Herself
Tunne Kelam	...	Himself
Mart Laar	...	Himself
Marju Lauristin	...	Herself
Ivo Linna	...	Himself
Tiia-Ester Loitme	...	Herself
Alo Mattiisen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lennart Meri	...	Himself (archive footage)
Lagle Parek	...	Herself
Arnold Rüütel	...	Himself
Edgar Savisaar	...	Himself
Imre Sooäär	...	Himself
Hirvo Surva	...	Himself
Vaino Väljas	...	Himself
Heinz Valk	...	Himself
Trivimi Velliste	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Laulev revolutsioon (Estonia) (copyright title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA | Estonia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Estonia

Company:

Northern Lights

Serious Singalong

It's been a few hundred years since the US had to figuratively sing for its independence, but less than 2 decades since Estonians finally shed the Soviet yoke and found freedom. That the country just south of Finland and between Germany and Russia achieved their freedom not by force but as it were by culture is more remarkable than its million people facing off a country of hundreds of million. Thus forms the outline of a dynamic documentary about Estonian revolution.

The thousands of Estonians who met every five years in Tartu, as many as 30,000, sang patriotic songs despite cruel occupations by Germany and Soviet Russia. The symbolic resistance was accompanied by some deft diplomacy during Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost or freedom of speech and the break up of the USSR in the early 1990's.

James Trusty and Maureen Castle Trusty's documentary assembles archival footage of the struggle in the 20th century, uses the usual talking heads, some of whom were freedom fighters, and has the good sense to have an understated Linda Hunt narration. When these innocent throngs sing their nationalist songs, cinemaphiles can't but think of the French singing La Marseillaise at Rick's Cafe in Casablanca.

It all works to the extent that you will never forget the little country that could.