Fortunately, the interview subjects (who include festival performers and current and former Estonian leaders) are very intelligent and well-spoken. Their stories are what really holds out interest here.
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08/08/08
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The Singing Revolution (2007)
84 %
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Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 27
Rotten:5
Average Rating: 7/10
Theatrical Release: 2007-12
Synopsis: The year 1991 marked a time of change for the Republic of Estonia. This small European nation decided to end the Soviet Union's power over them in a completely radical way: by singing. Though it's tough to imagine the former superpower... [More]
Director: James Tusty, Maureen Castle Tusty
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Reviews for The Singing Revolution
If The Singing Revolution were a fictional film it would be dismissed as a pie-in-the-sky fantasy. But it’s all true.
08/01/08
Folk songs can be plenty inspirational, but like this movie, they just aren't all that exciting.
07/17/08
'Nonstop Estonian folk music' might not be a great format for a radio station, but it sure works for The Singing Revolution.
07/11/08
Top Critic Although filmmakers James and Maureen Castle Tusty haven't figured out how to make historic tidbits come alive, they do know how to make them sing.
07/11/08
Effectively chronicles in a thumbnail sketch the blustery recent political 20th-century history of Estonia.
07/07/08
Full of the kind of collective passion and struggle and yearning for freedom that makes viewers well up with pride at their shared humanity.
07/03/08
Booster-ish, with only former participants in the struggle and activists interviewed. There's a you-must-feel-good thrust (and an incessant score). Warbles a familiar tune to Estonians, presumably, and doesn't offer enough rich notes for an outsider.
07/01/08
This fine and surprising documentary asks an even more challenging question: Can music promote nonviolence, prevent bloodshed and successfully overthrow an oppressive regime? Again -- astonishingly -- the answer is 'yes.'
06/20/08
Top Critic The thrill of this documentary is in the remarkable story of the Little Country That Could.
05/30/08
Top Critic As far as the plot goes, widespread lack of familiarity with Estonia's recent history actually works in the film's favor: Suspense born of ignorance lends the unfolding drama the urgency of a political thriller.
05/22/08
Top Critic The Singing Revolution is the sort of film that should be shown to North American school children or anyone else who takes his freedom for granted.
04/25/08
Patience may not the most exciting movie subject, but The Singing Revolution is, in its deceptively mild way, inspiring.
04/25/08
Top Critic It's a powerful story of a nation that, almost literally, sang its way to freedom.
04/17/08
Top Critic What makes the film unique is its intermittent focus on one of the country's cultural touchstones: a song festival called Laulupidu, and its role in bringing freedom to a repressed but restless people after a half-century.
04/04/08
The Singing Revolution becomes a tense political thriller that culminates in one of the most significant events of past century: The collapse of the Soviet Union.
04/03/08
Though slightly overstated, the part played by singing was no doubt significant. Its implied role in keeping the Estonian revolution nonviolent is especially stirring.
04/03/08
Top Critic Provides an uplifting depiction of vitally important political ends achieved via nonviolent means.
12/19/07
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