Sinimäed (Blue Hills)

IMDB

This Second World War documentary tells the story of the conscription of Estonian volunteers by the German Army for the Eastern Front. As the German Army retreated westwards in 1944, the Estonian volunteers returned to defend their homeland from the advancing Soviet Red Army who were not seen as liberators but instead brought back memories of the oppressive 1940 Stalinist occupation that had resulted from the Molotov/Ribbentrop Pact. A war diary written by Estonian Captain Paul Maitla is used as the primary source material. There are also present day interviews with soldiers who took part in the war including Estonians, Germans and Russians as well as present day reminiscences by Paul Maitla’s daughter. The last stand of the Estonian Army in the region known as the Blue Hills (Sinimäed in Estonian) in Estonia, allowed 80,000 Estonian refugees sufficient time to escape to the West and to avoid the resulting Soviet occupation.

Noored Kotkad ( The Young Eagles )

IMDB

The film depicts the adventures of three students who enlist in the war when their small country is invaded by their neighbors, the Russian Bolshevists during what became known as the Estonian war of independence (1918-1920). This became a standard subject for Estonian films because during the last century the Baltic States were attacked, liberated and annexed by their Bolshevists neighbors many times.

Besides the historical facts and curiosities involved in this Estonian film production, little more interesting can be said about this oeuvre because of its meagre artistic merits.

The film was directed by Herr Luts during the silent year of 1927 but it looks like it was made ten years before due to the primitive, amateurish even clumsy film direction during the whole film, including poor performances by the entire cast, schematic, simplistic film narrative and nil techniques ( a too static camera ). The artistic intentions are innocent and it might be fine as an Estonian production but it is many years behind the powerful and modern European and USA films made during the same period.

Inimesed sõdurisinelis (People clad in a greatcoat)

IMDB

The story of the war film is about paths of the Estonian Shooting Corps (formed by the Red Army) during the WW-2 and how the fight forms an usual man to a loyal soldier. Ideologic aspects of the movie are more hidden than in ordinary Soviet war films but they’re still existing.