THE FENCER
****
Director: Klaus Härö
Screenwriter: Anna Heinämaa
Principal cast:
Märt Avandi
Ursula Ratasepp
Hendrik Toompere
Liisa Koppel
Joonas Koff
Egert Kadastu
Country: Finland/Estonia/Germany
Classification: PG
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 24 November 2016
Set in Estonia in 1953, The Fencer (Miekkailija), is a beautifully crafted film that examines the life and morals of a man on the run. Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi) has fled Leningrad to take up the post of sports teacher at a school in remote Haapslu, Estonia, and is keeping a low profile trying to avoid Stalin’s secret police who want him for his wartime service with Germany, service he was forced to provide. He is a mild-mannered, principled man and it is these principles which will determine his future.
Before the war, Endel was a skilled swordsman so, because the school’s sports department is ill-equipped, he starts a fencing club for his students using twigs cut from the surrounding forest. Through this teaching he is able to impart values to the children that he hopes will also prepare them for adult life, but his enthusiasm and rapport with the students makes the school principal wary of the newcomer and he begins to suspect that Endel is not who he says he is. This was a time in Estonian history when people were pitted against each other as a direct result of their actions when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany.
When the students hear about a forthcoming fencing competition in Leningrad, they implore their teacher to enter their team as they are finally engaged in something that gives them hope. Thus, Endel has to decide whether to risk everything and take the children to Leningrad or put his wellbeing first and disappoint them.
Klaus Härö’s direction of this remarkable true story is a wonderful piece of cinema. The actors are all excellent, especially the children, who are thoroughly convincing, portraying a group of kids who were, in many cases, orphaned during the war. The Fencer is a powerful, moving story about the importance of staying true to your beliefs, whatever the cost.
Screenwriter: Anna Heinämaa
Principal cast:
Märt Avandi
Ursula Ratasepp
Hendrik Toompere
Liisa Koppel
Joonas Koff
Egert Kadastu
Country: Finland/Estonia/Germany
Classification: PG
Runtime: 99 mins.
Australian release date: 24 November 2016
Set in Estonia in 1953, The Fencer (Miekkailija), is a beautifully crafted film that examines the life and morals of a man on the run. Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi) has fled Leningrad to take up the post of sports teacher at a school in remote Haapslu, Estonia, and is keeping a low profile trying to avoid Stalin’s secret police who want him for his wartime service with Germany, service he was forced to provide. He is a mild-mannered, principled man and it is these principles which will determine his future.
Before the war, Endel was a skilled swordsman so, because the school’s sports department is ill-equipped, he starts a fencing club for his students using twigs cut from the surrounding forest. Through this teaching he is able to impart values to the children that he hopes will also prepare them for adult life, but his enthusiasm and rapport with the students makes the school principal wary of the newcomer and he begins to suspect that Endel is not who he says he is. This was a time in Estonian history when people were pitted against each other as a direct result of their actions when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany.
When the students hear about a forthcoming fencing competition in Leningrad, they implore their teacher to enter their team as they are finally engaged in something that gives them hope. Thus, Endel has to decide whether to risk everything and take the children to Leningrad or put his wellbeing first and disappoint them.
Klaus Härö’s direction of this remarkable true story is a wonderful piece of cinema. The actors are all excellent, especially the children, who are thoroughly convincing, portraying a group of kids who were, in many cases, orphaned during the war. The Fencer is a powerful, moving story about the importance of staying true to your beliefs, whatever the cost.