Ningen no joken 3

Ningen no jôken: Dai 5 bu - Shi no dasshutsu + Ningen no jôken: Dai 6 bu - Kôya no hôkô / The Human Condition 3: A Soldier's Prayer / [Ihmisen kohtalo 3: Sotilaan rukous] / [Människans lott 3: En soldats prädikan]. JP 1961. See general credits in part 1. 190 min. Viewed in The Night of the Arts in Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Aug 2009. - Brilliant print. - Memorable in this part: the massive attack of the Red Army - only three soldiers are left from Kaji's unit of 160 - Kaji's hand covered in blood - flashbacks are introduced into the films; Michiko appears only in them anymore - the hellish struggle for survival - awareness that the Japanese army has disbanded - extreme close-ups and magnificent epic aerial long shots, sober compositions and sharply slanting angles - the trek through the forest - the preciousness of water - meeting Japanese refugees, the women have had to serve as prostitutes - scarce food: "we'll all share" - the flight of the ragged band through the forest with a screaming baby - subsisting on snails and mushrooms, which can be dangerous - the nobility of the elderly - discussing the future of the nation - Chinese peasants lure the Japanese into a trap - a tryst on a farm - ambush - escape through the fire - the Red Army is infamous for having its way with the women - Kaji would expect the Reds to be better than they are - Kaji fights the rapists among his own people - more Japanese are found lurking in the forest as the winter is coming - there is still even a Japanese military unit in the mountains - destroying a Red Army dugout - stealing their way through the countryside - the house of women, where there is general love-making going on all night, free for all, Kaji abstains and stays outdoors, the woman yearning for him (Hideko Takamine) takes a young virgin soldier instead - Kaji: "no time to play house" - at 127 minutes of this part (or at 37 minutes of Part Six) Kaji surrenders to the Red Army - one of the women having prevented Kaji's plan to fight - hit by the diarrhea - Kaji demands justice, demands investigation from the Red Army - he is called by them a "Fascist Samurai" - entering the Gulag: Work Station Number One - the prisoners in hard labour - huge loads of metal scrap, logs - they fall having spent their last drops of energy - Kaji loses his illusions of Soviet Russia - in a trial he is declared a war criminal - and Kaji speaks out, condemning the Red Army for injustice - Kaji is punished by sending him to build a forest railway - "If you can't survive Siberia no one can", says his old acquaintance Tange - Terada perishes, a victim of harassment, kicked, harassed by excessive latrine duty - this is the last straw for Kaji, who revenges on the biggest tormentor, Kirihara, and drowns him into the latrine - at 176 min Kaji escapes from under the barbed wire - into the icy water - interior monologue - the wind, the darkness, madness from hunger - the Chinese tramp him into the ground, "the Japanese devil" - through the snow expanse - drinking from the holes in the ice - immense desolate landscapes - "Michiko, I have come as far as I can" - "Michiko, I'm home at last"

The Singing Revolution

Laulev revolutsioon / Laulava vallankumous / Den sjungande revolutionen. US/EE (c) 2006 Mountain View Productions. D: James Tusty, Maureen Castle Tusty, Mike Majoros. Narrator: Linda Hunt. 97 min. A 35mm print with title sequences and subtitles in English from Mountain View Productions. Viewed at Cinema Orion, 31 March 2009. - A good print, with many of the news footage from video origins, and at least some new footage looked like it is shot or edited digitally. - An excellent documentary film of Estonia's way back to independence 20 years ago. - Magnificent aerial footage on the Laulupidu song festivals. - The memory of the free republic. The forest brothers. The gulag survivor. The last forest brother captured in 1978. Russification. I (interview): Lennart Meri. - One of the largest collections of folk songs in the world. - The song fest of 1947: Stalin era, Soviet hymn, and "Mu isanmaa" (Gustav Ernesaks, Lydia Koidula). The unofficial national anthem. The sign of protest. - 1969: the centenary song festival, revival of "Mu isanmaa". They had to let Ernesaks conduct. - 1985: Gorbachov. 1987: non-violence, environment, phosphor mines. - Official debate on the occupation. The revelation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. - The Tartu revolt. I: Mart Laar. The Heritage Society. The guy on the motorcycle with a flag - soon flags everywhere. - Revolution with a smile and a song. - Glasnost = free speech. - Popular front. Edgar Savisaar. Carrying out perestroika. - USSR replaced hardliners with Vaino Valjas. Russians got nervous. 40% Russians in Estonia. Interfront. - All had different strategies. - Laulupidu: 300.000 - one third of the Estonians. - I: Edgar Savisaar. I: Marju Lauristin. I: Heinz Valk. I: Vaino Valjas. - Developing Estonian Laws. I: Arnold Rüütel. The Estonian language. The Estonian flag. - 1989: avoiding direct confrontation. An example of responsibility. - Footage of Gorbachov meeting the Estonians. - The 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. - The giant human chain through the three Baltic countries. - The Soviet Party warns the Baltic countries. - Illegal occupation. Political violence. Estonian citizenship exists. Registration campaign. Denying legitimacy of occupation. It was easy to start. 860.000 registered. An overwhelming referendum. - 1990: the Congress of Estonia. Not declaring any official authority. Russians lose privileges. Interfront increasingly hostile. - Hammer and sickle illegal. - Interfront at Toompea. I: Jevgeni Kogan (Interfront). - The crowd stormed. The defense of Toompea Castle. Liberty! The crowd stayed calm. - 1991: Vilnius: Soviet soldiers killed 14, hundreds wounded. I: Lennart Meri. Free media. Riga: 6 more killed. - Soviet system collapsed. Hardliners agains Gorbachov. Gorbachov always late. Restructuring. Tanks. - The Hirve Park demonstration. - Heinz Volk gave the Singing Revolution its name. - A calmly engrossing documentary film. - Essential viewing for any Finn.

Krustceļš / Homeland

Juris Podnieks: Krustceļš / Homeland (LV 1990).

Um Freiheit zu singen. 

    LV © 1990 JPS Productions. PC: Jura Podnieka Studija, Channel 4 (GB), NHK Japan. 

    D+SC: Juris Podnieks. DP: Andris Slapiņš, Gvido Zvaigzne, Juris Podnieks – IMAX – 70 mm – 1,44:1. ED: Antra Clilinska. S: Anrijs Krenbergs. 

    64 min

    A Betacam SP from the Latvian Embassy. 

    English subtitles. 

    Screened at Cinema Orion, 24 March 2009.

A masterpiece on the Baltic liberation 20 years ago. Beautiful image and sound.

The bells. The old man in his log house. Archival footage of the song festivals of the past. The oldest conductor of the Baltic countries. Occupation footage. Reunions. Aerial footage of the song festival. Latvian choirs from many countries. Estonia: Saarenmaa, the occupation in 1940.

The deportations.

Interviewed: Miss Saarenmaa of 1931, taken to the Gulag. The Saarenmaa song festival of 1931. Once again she wears her ribbon.

Will the Russians leave?

WWII: 10% of the men conscripted. The veteran who is missing his other arm.

Saldus military test site.

Demonstrations: citizens vs. soldiers.

Siberia: Bulani village.

10% of the Baltic people left for the USA.

The return from the Gulag. "With the eyes of an animal". Forgiveness. I wore a mask. We became actors. The bones of the deported.

The graveyard in Siberia. 200.000 from the Baltic are buried here. The repatriation of the dead. The hill of the crosses. The masses under their umbrellas. Lithuania: the cross is an ancient symbol of power. The hill of a million crosses. Although it was rolled over, it rose time and again. The KGB opened all foreign mail. The path of the cross.

The huge bust of Lenin is rolled down. The Baltic countries have been put down.

1990: the Supreme Soviet: the debate on independence. 53% of the people in Latvia are non-Latvians. Every 10. Latvian belongs to the Red Army.

Police violence against the peaceful demonstration. Water of life, water of death. The camera rises to an aerial shot of the huge song festival. Two cameramen were later shot by Red Army snipers, and the director died in a car accident.

Fear Beyond the Wall (Baltic memorial event 2009: 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall, 60th anniversary of Stalin era deportations)

Fear Beyond the Wall event at Cinema Orion, 24 March 2009. In memory of the 60th anniversary of the deportations in the Baltic countries and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Organized by the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Embassies together with National Audiovisual Archive, WSOY, Sofi Oksanen, and Imbi Paju. In the photo: Anna Žīgure, author, ex-Ambassador of Latvia and Merle Pajula, Ambassador of Estonia. Foto Kai Vase.

Pelko muurin takana

In memory of the 60th anniversary of the deportations in the Baltic countries and the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall.
Organized by the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Embassies together with National Audiovisual Archive, WSOY, Sofi Oksanen, and Imbi Paju.
At Cinema Orion, 17.00-–21.00
Moderator: Ms. Iivi Anna Masso

GREETINGS
Ms. Merle Pajula, Ambassador of Estonia
Mr. Einars Semanias, Ambassador of Latvia
Ms. Halina Kobeckaité, Ambassador of Lithuania
Ms. Anna Žīgure, author, ex-Ambassador of Latvia

ADDRESSES
Mr. Toomas Hiio (International Commission of History, Estonia): Management of the Past in Estonia by Historical Research
Mr. Martin Arpo (Security Police, Estonia, ex-researcher of war crimes and crimes against humanity): Deportations as a Crime Against Humanity
Prof. Seppo Zetterberg: The Estonian Historiography from the Viewpoint of a Finnish Researcher

INTERVIEW
Mmes Imbi Paju and Sofi Oksanen, editors of the anthology book Kaiken takana oli pelko (Fear Was Beyond Everything, WSOY 2009) interviewed by Iivi Anna Masso

PRESENTATION
AA: Gulag and the Cinema – the Fear Beyond the Wall retrospective [the first retrospective in Finland on the theme, curated by Sofi Oksanen and Imbi Paju]

MUSICAL EVENT
the original presentation of
Jüri Reinvere: Requiem
presented by the Scotch flautist Richard Craig and four singers from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
combined with a film on Digibeta by Catherine Jarvis, compiled from rare Estonian footage from 1911–1945
text written by Jüri Reinvere, recited by Catherine Jarvis

The cinema was packed, the atmosphere was calm and intensive, and there had already been the book presentation two hours earlier at the Mediatori at Sanomatalo. – There was great media attention, but, alas, half of it was devoted to a bizarre demonstration of a group of Nashi of 15 (misled to believe that the film The Soviet Story was being shown).