I had the chance to see a new documentary the other night on the history of the country of Estonia. The movie is called “The Singing Revolution.”
Jim Tusty and his wife, Maureen Castle Tusty, are the directors. They live not far from where I live. My father actually knew Maureen when she was a little kid.
The film tells the story of the Estonian people, who suffered for a long time but always kept singing. The country, from the 1930’s until 1992, was controlled by other countries – first Russia, then Germany, then Russia again. Many people were arrested, sent to Siberia and even killed. Life in Estonia during this time was not good.
But the people kept going because of their love for singing and their annual singing festival. Finally, in 1992, Russia left Estonia and the people were free once again.
“The Singing Revolution” tells the story of this country in an interesting and emotional way. The night I saw the movie the theater was pretty packed, good for a small, independent film. The movie is being released in major cities around the country in April, including Philadelphia, Portland, Chicago and Seattle, so if you have a chance to see it you should.
There’s also a chance that it could be out on DVD later this year. I’ll keep you posted.