Miekkaillja / Vehkleja (2015)

	Also Known As: The fencer, Die Kinder des Fechters
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Klaus Härö
	Actors: Märt Avandi
	Country: FIN, EST, D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 05.11.2015, CineStar3, NFDL2015, Estonian/Russian with English subtitles
Synopsis: Fleeing from the Russian secret police because of his controversial past, a young Estonian fencer named Endel (Avandi) is forced to return to his homeland, where he begins to train a group of young children in the art of fencing. The past however catches up with him and Endel has to choose between letting his students down or putting his life in danger.
Review: The movie is partially based on the real life story of an Estonian fencer Endel Nelis (1925-1993). The story of one of many Baltic young men who joined the German army in the years of Nazi occupation (1941-1944), mostly to fight against the previous Soviet occupation, and has been discriminated for that. Actually means deported to a gulag in Siberia.  After resistance movements during first Soviet occupation (1939-1941), the Soviet Union had resentment against the Baltic countries and decided to deport many of them to Siberia. The fencer is giving to the children some values like discipline, ambition and pride to be from Estonia. He is replacing the figure of the missing fathers. There is a lot of that in the characters of the kids. As the Latvian Excursionist this movie makes a work of historical catharsis for Estonia. That must be the reason why all the actors are so convincing. They have some strength and believes from the education. The kids manage to have this gravity and seriousness in the look. The scenery is very authentic even if is is not in the same town as the real story. Especially the locations for the training hall, the school, the apartment of the teacher. The writer told in the Q&A session that she had to simplify the real story and to romanticize it to make it filmable. The feelings are authentic although these changes. I do not know which kind of feelings we were supposed to get, but it was for me an emotional experience. This means the writer and the director did a good job!
Rating: 8 /10