One Author wrote the following: "Well, I first thought this is some anti-Russian propaganda because of the recent conflicts. But then I realized this movie actually shows that war is wrong in general"
Well, I agree with the part that the movie shows that war is bad in general but I cannot understand how someone does not see this film as anti-Russian/Soviet propaganda! I liked the idea of the film when reading the Storyline but I was very disappointed about the simplistic drawn picture of good vs evil.
Probably the most filmmakers tend to make their home country look good, brave and proud but this movie goes one step too far. At the beginning there is a battle where a team of about 10 Estonians defeat about 100 Soviets with about 10 Tanks. All Soviets are running around like chicken not hiding behind their tanks.
Later during the film, there are a lot of scenes and stories in which the soviets are shown as the pure evil. There is the soviet-warplane that attacks repeatedly the fleeing civilians instead of attacking the Military Truck. After the last turn its even aiming precisely at one single child in the field – but fortunately the brave Estonian soldier risked his life and saved her. Leaving aside that this is a huge waste of ammunition, I can't imagine the soviets were that evil killing small children on purpose. Than there is the bad Soviet-leader who gives an order to shoot five boys and than shoots the Estonian soldier who refuses to do this.
It looks like the producers collected and strung together all nightmare stories about the soviets and put it in this movie. In summary, this film tells us that the Soviets bombed cities although having no armed forces inside. They deported simply every Estonian to Siberia and killed the rest while they were fleeing. But the typical Estonian soldier was a smart and brave hero. If history could only be that easy
The soviets were definitely not the good ones and do not have to be defended. And here we do not talk about history, but about filmmaking. Most actions were so predictable that we even began to guess right how the single scenes were going to end. Like in these bad horror movies.
To be fair, I compare it to movies that had a 20 times larger budget. Knowing that, the pictures are very well done. But the script misses the two possible targets. For an good entertaining movie like for example "Saving Private Ryan" it's just too predictable. But for an anti-war movie, it paints a too heroic picture of one side and misses the chance to show that in a war both sides suffer from it.
Well, I agree with the part that the movie shows that war is bad in general but I cannot understand how someone does not see this film as anti-Russian/Soviet propaganda! I liked the idea of the film when reading the Storyline but I was very disappointed about the simplistic drawn picture of good vs evil.
Probably the most filmmakers tend to make their home country look good, brave and proud but this movie goes one step too far. At the beginning there is a battle where a team of about 10 Estonians defeat about 100 Soviets with about 10 Tanks. All Soviets are running around like chicken not hiding behind their tanks.
Later during the film, there are a lot of scenes and stories in which the soviets are shown as the pure evil. There is the soviet-warplane that attacks repeatedly the fleeing civilians instead of attacking the Military Truck. After the last turn its even aiming precisely at one single child in the field – but fortunately the brave Estonian soldier risked his life and saved her. Leaving aside that this is a huge waste of ammunition, I can't imagine the soviets were that evil killing small children on purpose. Than there is the bad Soviet-leader who gives an order to shoot five boys and than shoots the Estonian soldier who refuses to do this.
It looks like the producers collected and strung together all nightmare stories about the soviets and put it in this movie. In summary, this film tells us that the Soviets bombed cities although having no armed forces inside. They deported simply every Estonian to Siberia and killed the rest while they were fleeing. But the typical Estonian soldier was a smart and brave hero. If history could only be that easy
The soviets were definitely not the good ones and do not have to be defended. And here we do not talk about history, but about filmmaking. Most actions were so predictable that we even began to guess right how the single scenes were going to end. Like in these bad horror movies.
To be fair, I compare it to movies that had a 20 times larger budget. Knowing that, the pictures are very well done. But the script misses the two possible targets. For an good entertaining movie like for example "Saving Private Ryan" it's just too predictable. But for an anti-war movie, it paints a too heroic picture of one side and misses the chance to show that in a war both sides suffer from it.