"The Singing Revolution" is not an average documentary. First, the focus is on Estonia, an ex-Soviet republic on the Baltic Sea. It is a small nation, the size of New Hampshire and Vermont put together, and has only one million inhabitants. The location of Estonia is to the west of Russia, sharing a border, and to the south of Finland, only water separating the two countries.
Most people do not know much about Estonia or its history. However, "The Singing Revolution" answers these questions, especially in regard to relations with its Russian neighbors.
Nazi Soviet Pact, The Gulag and Soviet History
The film centers around Estonia's annual song festival entitled, Laulupidu. Instead of resorting to violence and killing against Soviet injustices, the Estonians chose to sing to display love for their motherland and protest against the Soviet regime.
"The Singing Revolution" follows the plight of the Estonians after the Soviets invade in 1940 with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This allowed Hilter and Stalin to divide up the area between Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviets took over Estonia. The next 50 years is commonly referred to as "occupation" in Estonia.
The film goes on to show the active role the KGB, the state security agency of the Soviet Union, played in the daily lives of Estonians.
There were many deportations to the gulag, which were hard labor camps for political prisoners. A sentence to the gulag was either immediate death or years of torture only to succumb to inevitable death. As the movie discusses, many Estonians were ripped from their homes in the middle of the night, never to be seen again by their families. In one chilling scene, festival singer Imre Sooäär discusses the KGB:
“It was all behind the scenes, constant psychological pressure. It was (an) amazing monster and you never know how big it was, where it was, who in your family or your friends, who were the agents. So there was never (an) official face of the organization.”
World War Two Soldiers
Perhaps, the most compelling part of the entire film is the World War II history. In 1945, a group of men left their homes and went off into the forest to fight for Estonia's independence. They lived in bunkers and shared meals provided by nature, calling themselves the "forest brothers." One forest brother, Alfred Kaarmann, lived in the forest for a remarkable "eight years, one month and seven days."
As the film continues, the tensions between Estonians and Russians are a powder keg ready to blow. A viewer can see why Estonian-Russian relations are in dismal shape, even today. Yet the fascinating part is the Estonians do not resort to violent, singing is the ultimate weapon of choice.
"The Singing Revolution" explores the depths of Estonian-Russian relations, and how Soviet history has marred the chances of reconciliation. A viewer will discover how the power of song can triumph over terror, fear and violence and bring a nation its most precious commodity: freedom.
Jennifer Ciotta - Jennifer Ciotta is the author of I, Putin (Vladimir Putin novel): http://vladimirputinnovel.com.
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