Title cards at the beginning
give us a bit of information on the period and the situation. During World War
II, Estonia was occupied by Germany and by the Soviet Union at different times.
And after the war, the Soviet Union, under Stalin, occupied the country. Estonian
men who had been drafted by Nazi Germany during the war were hunted by Stalin’s
Secret Police. When the film starts, we follow Endel Nelis (Mart Avandi) as he
gets off a train and walks through the streets alone to a school, the camera
remaining behind him the entire time. It’s a great sequence, and the film later
uses similar shots for a different effect. He has come to this small town to
get a teaching job, and the principal notices that “fencing” is on his resume.
He is hired to be the athletic instructor, and is told he has other
responsibilities as well, which mainly seem to be running a sports club for the
children. However, after repairing all the skis, with the intention of making
the sports club a skiing club, he finds the next day that they’ve all been
taken. The principal, a cold authoritarian figure, informs him that the school
shares their sports equipment with the military airbase. This is the only time
in the film that this comes into play, and we never hear about it again or see
the airbase, so it feels like this moment is simply there to force Endel to
rely on his fencing background. It is one of the only weak turns of the film.
But rely on his fencing, he
does. And when he does, he is surprised to find that nearly the entire school
has shown up for lessons. And so he begins to train them, fashioning branches
into foils for the children. He is encouraged by Kadri (Ursula Ratasepp), a
teacher for whom he develops feelings. And while the principal wishes Endel to
cease the fencing instructions and to teach sports better suited to the
proletariat, the children’s parents get behind the program. The children wish
to enter into a competition in Leningrad. While everything seems to be going
well, we are reminded of the dangers Endel faces, mainly through contact with a
friend who tries to get him a position farther from Leningrad and who later
warns him to stay away from Leningrad at all costs. And for some reason the
principal takes it upon himself (and his assistant) to look further into Endel’s
background. For me, it is never satisfactorily explained why he would wish to
do this, other than he’s just an authoritarian bastard, and that is the only
other weakness of the film.
The performances – including those
by the children – are extraordinary. And the look of the film is excellent, often
beautiful. I got completely caught up in this story and these characters. And
it is ultimately an uplifting tale.
Special Features
The DVD includes an interview
with the film’s director, Klaus Härö, who talks about the story and some of the
similarities with his other work, and about shooting period films. He also
talks about the cast, mentioning that Mart Avandi is actually a popular
comedian in Estonia, which is interesting. This interview was conducted in
2015, and is approximately twenty-two minutes.
The director provides an audio
commentary on certain scenes. He talks about reading the script and what
interested him in the story, and about the shots from the beginning that I love.
He also talks about shooting a period piece, and about the casting. He gives an
interesting anecdote about the day he shot the scene with the grandfather being
taken away by the authorities.
The special features also include
the film’s trailer.
The Fencer was directed by Klaus Härö, and was released on DVD on April
10, 2018 through Music Box Films. It is presented in its original Estonian,
with English subtitles.
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