Estonia: A Tale Of Two Nations

The story of Estonia's fight for freedom is chronicled in this engaging news-style documentary. One of the Balkan States (along with Lithuania and Latvia), Estonia and her neighbors lost their independence in 1939 with the signing of the Hitler-Stalin pact that, among other things, handed the Balkan States over to the Soviet Union. Fifty years later, in 1989, Estonia raised the flag of independence once again. Estonian journalists and government officials talk about the recent political upheavals in Estonia and the fight between "pro-Moscow" and "pro-independence" groups (and the tape includes footage of the unsuccessful storming of Parliament on May 15, 1990, by pro-Moscow demonstrators). A running theme throughout the program contrasts Estonia with her close neighbor Finland (60 miles away by water). Once very close countries, Estonia has had to watch her former friend prosper in a free market economy on television (an eerie experience one imagines), while Estonia remained an agricultural slave of the U.S.S.R. The final third of the program observes some of the many changes that have recently taken place in Estonia (including reunion trips to Finland), more freedom in the arts, and broader religious freedom (one couple, married ten years, is seen renewing their vows in a church wedding). The poignancy and painful absurdity of the "changes" is summed up in a sequence with Estonian disc jockey Andres Joassar playing Gerry Rafferty's 1978 hit song "Baker Street," previously unheard on Estonian airwaves (because KGB headquarters are located on a Baker St.) A good documentary which should appeal to a wide group considering the current ongoing interest in Eastern Europe. Recommended. (Available from: Cambridge Career Products, P.O. Box 2153, Charleston, WV 25328-2153; 1-800-468-4227.)