Constructing National Identity in Soviet Estonian Documentary Cinema: a Case Study of the Documentary Ruhnu (1965) by Andres Sööt

BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE Article Constructing National Identity in Soviet Estonian Documentary Cinema: A Case Study of the Documentary Ruhnu (1965) by Andres Sööt

RIHO VÄSTRIK, Tallinn University, Estonia; email: [email protected] 4 DOI: 10.1515/bsmr-2015-0021 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE ABSTRACT This article aims to fi nd out how Soviet Estonian documentaries constructed the national discourse in the 1960s, by focusing on the case of the 10-minute documentary Ruhnu (1965) by Andres Sööt. Ruhnu was the fi rst Soviet Estonian documentary released after World War II that romanticised Estonian nationalism. In order to narrate the national ideals considered undesirable by the offi cial ideology, the Soviet Estonian fi lmmakers often chose to portray characters embedded in the national consciousness as archetypal heroes from pre-Soviet times and the landscapes associated with them. In the desire for past times, national heroes and idealised landscapes were constructed and naturalised in a contemporary context. The article raises the question – what kind of heroes, landscapes and activities were used to construct the national identity and which elements of fi lm language were used? The research method used, critical discourse analysis, allows us to analyse the archetypes created in the documentary and the archetypal landscapes used as a framework for the narrative.

INTRODUCTION school emerged in fi lm in the 1960s While political circumstances in Soviet (Näripea 2011; Ansip 2006, 2013; Orav 2003, Union changed over the decades, the docu- etc.). mentary fi lmmakers of the Estonian Soviet The article poses the question: what Socialist Republic (SSR) were generally kind of protagonists, actions and land- not free to express themselves in national scapes were used to construct the national matters. In order to communicate the identity? Answering this question will allow Estonian national identity to the audiences, me to gain a partial understanding of the the authors chose their characters from rules that governed the ideological-cultural amongst the archetypal heroes that had game in Soviet Estonia. Secondly, I will been solidifi ed in national consciousness in explore the documentary mode used for the pre-occupation era, and depicted land- conveying a national narrative. scapes associated with these heroes. The narrative analysis of documentary The aim of this article is to explore how has been given new light during recent the national discourse was constructed decades; at the same time, a deeper per- in the Soviet Estonian documentaries of ception of the interpretative dimensions of the 1960s. The premise is the widely-held documentary has emerged (Valkola 2002: view in Estonian fi lm research that, despite 11). However, any artistic expression is a Soviet ideological discourse, a national related, to a certain degree, to other works 5 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE and aspects of the world; it does not stand investigations of Soviet Estonian documen- apart from other experiences (Bordwell, taries has suggested that this was the fi rst Thompson 2013: 56). Still, we should keep documentary made in the Estonian SSR in mind that ‘each art form has uniquely after World War II that romanticised Esto- particular norms and capabilities of expres- nian national identity.1 Previous fi lms had sion’ (Stam 2000: 12); this also applies to abided by the canons of socialist realism narration using the medium of cinema. As that deprived nationality a central role. the structure of any documentary text also displays parallels with other texts (Nichols PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON THE 1991: 22), the research of documentaries DOCUMENTARY FILM OF may therefore make use of the methods and SOVIET ESTONIA conclusions employed by other disciplines Few cultural researchers have explored the of the humanities. Estonian documentary output during the Jarmo Valkola has emphasised that Soviet period. In 1977, Tatjana Elmanovitš visual interpretation deals with both the presented her Candidate of Sciences thesis eyes and the brain. What we know or have Estonian Documentary-Journalistic Televi- experienced in the past and how we have sion and Its Role in the Development of made sense of these experiences and Television (Direct Programming and Films tracked them in our memory moderate what for Television) (Эльманович 1977). The same is understood. Based on this view, memory author also penned the non-academic can produce images of the past, and fi lms publication The Image of a Fact: From can produce fl ashbacks. Perception can Journalism to Film in Estonian Television unite what is apparently disparate. (Valkola (Эльманович 1975). These works examine 2015: 31) the productions of Estonian Television and Language is interpreted using dis- its sub-unit, Eesti Telefi lm, established in course analysis. In this article I have chosen 1965. critical discourse analysis as my method The documentary fi lms produced in of research, concentrating on archetypes the republic’s fi lm studio Tallinnfi lm2 were and narrative as a framework for the action. regularly analysed, mostly by fi lm critics in In addition, I will be employing the spatial their reviews. Over a period of four decades, concept of textual analysis, since the visual there were also some university theses imagery of landscape is a powerful device of written on the topic of documentary fi lm propaganda that is easily subordinated to (e.g., Mesila 1972, Teinemaa 1991). the service of communicating the messages In the current century, the period of of the dominant ideology (Sooväli 2008: my research has also been explored in 2006 134). by Karol Ansip in her MA thesis titled An According to Eva Näripea, national Overview of Development Trends in Estonian landscapes and nation-space were also Documentary Film until the Emergence used in fi lm in the 1960s as tools for con- of Auteur Documentary Film: The Films of structing national continuity by juxtaposing Andres Sööt as a Case Study of Auteur Film them to Soviet landscapes and Soviet (Ansip 2006). Her work presents a cohesive space. Instead of depicting the contempo- compilation of the reviews by fi lm critics, rary life of kolkhozes, the fi lmmakers pre- but lacks a methodological treatment. In ferred to conjure up the semi-mythic ‘ideal 2013, the magazine Teater. Muusika. Kino landscapes’ of the interwar countryside. Näripea describes her methodology as ‘a 1 The new way of introducing Estonia in this fi lm was spatialised variant of textual analysis, open also emphasised by the Editor-in-Chief of Tallinnfi lm’s to diverse infl uences’ (Näripea 2011: 15, 84). department of chronicles, Peedu Ojamaa, in the artistic council of the studio on 15 September 1965 (National The object of my research is the Archives of Estonia, ERA.R-1707.1.874, p. 162). 10-minute documentary Ruhnu by Andres 2 Established by the Soviet regime to replace the Kultuurfi lm studio of the Republic of Estonia, and Sööt, released by Tallinnfi lm in 1965. My operated, under different names, until 2001.

6 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE published Ansip’s (non-academic) article be compared to the grand narrative (Ruut- ‘The Story of Estonian Documentary: Main soo 2000: 30). Grand narratives are myths Characteristics and Distinctive Features and legends originating from tribal times from the 1960s to the Restoration of Inde- that have helped to legitimate the dominant pendence’, in which Ansip supplements the social power dynamics and traditions factors that infl uenced Estonian documen- throughout history (MIA s.a.). The grand tary by exploring developments in fi lm in the narrative informed society about which part world at large and in the vicinity of Estonia of the offi cial truth could not be contra- (Ansip 2013). dicted or contested by anyone wanting to The most in-depth research into the be recognised by the offi cial general public factors that shaped Soviet Estonian fi lm (Ruutsoo 2000: 30). For example, the Com- has been conducted by Eva Näripea in her munist Party Congress resolutions were off 2011 PhD dissertation, Estonian Cines- limits, but the discussion and even criticism capes: Spaces, Places and Sites in Soviet of social phenomena and the way the Party Estonian Cinema (and Beyond). Although resolutions were carried out was allowed. Näripea’s research focuses mainly on Marek Tamm has written that although feature fi lms, the dissertation also draws the central idea of the concept of history numerous parallels with documentary fi lm. in Soviet-occupied Estonia consisted of In the author’s own words, ‘fi lmic space emphasising the historical friendship and the way its denotative and connotative between the Estonian and Russian nations, mechanisms work is not fundamentally in the complete denigration of the Repub- dissimilar in fi ctional, narrative cinema and lic of Estonia and in reducing historical documentary fi lm’ (Näripea 2011: 13). processes to the model of class confl ict, The emergence of a national narra- one cannot say that Estonian history com- tive in Estonian documentary fi lm has not pletely disregarded the previous ‘Estonian been separately researched; it has only template’. The reference point for historical been discussed in general terms. I suggest research was borrowed largely from the that emphasising this aspect was frowned pre-war national traditions of recording upon during the Soviet period, because it history, which perpetuated the notion that contradicted Soviet ideology. However, it is the Estonian-speaking peasants were the necessary to explore the needs and oppor- main subjects and carriers of Estonian his- tunities of documentary fi lmmakers for tory. Tamm views history as a specifi c form self-expression while taking into account of cultural memory, in which the narrative the cultural-political environment. logic of Estonian cultural memory is one of the cornerstones of the idea of national NATIONAL CULTURE continuity (Tamm 2012). ‘Under certain con- PREVAILED IN SPITE OF ditions, a nation can be viewed as a “nar- THE SOVIET REGIME rative community” whose identity is largely As documentary fi lm forms part of the based on the “stories by which we live”, or media, certain parallels with journalism are more precisely, on narrative patterns that justifi ed in researching the topic. In totali- lend coherence to a nation’s past’ (Tamm tarian societies (which the Soviet Union 2012: 52). was without a doubt), the governing regime According to Tiit Hennoste, Estonian imposes certain discursive precepts on culture revolves around literature and all journalism and uses direct (control, censor- other art forms have been received through ship) and/or hidden mechanisms to make literature (Hennoste 2011: 1146). In the 20th sure that they are fulfi lled (Lõhmus 1999: 9). century, the most revered Estonian writer Established within the dominant ideol- was probably Anton Hansen Tammsaare, ogy without any kind of public debate is its whose multi-volume seminal work Truth and conceptual part, a nucleus of the teaching, Justice (Tõde ja õigus, fi rst published between which has been defi ned as telos. Telos can 1926 and 1933) helped to perpetuate

7 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE the myth of the hard-working, austere and fi lm is a language only in a metaphorical God-fearing Estonian (Oinas 1984: 56). sense and that it is not, in essence, realistic (Valkola 2015: 38). THE DOCUMENTARY Throughout history, documentary ‘LANGUAGE’ fi lm has been defi ned in a variety of ways.3 Culture is viewed in textual terms in order Despite the differences in opinion, it has to interpret the various aspects of its func- been more or less agreed that documenta- tioning. Thus, I will also approach fi lm as a ries are fi lms about actual people who have text with a distinctive language, in which actual experiences in real-life settings. The the content and expression of each sign language of documentary fi lm has devel- constitute an organised system of struc- oped in the same cultural and technological tural relations (Lotman 1981). Incidentally, context as the language of fi lm in general, Hennoste does not locate the foundation of while searching for its uniquely immediate Estonian culture in literature, as one might ‘documental’ ingredient, but still taking deduce from the previous paragraph, but in advantage of the whole of fi lm theory, where text and more generally, in the world of texts necessary. In documentary, the historical (Hennoste 2011: 1146). is represented and made meaningful with Each text is simultaneously specifi - sequences of documents arranged in histo- cally material and abstractly mental within riographic narratives; much like the docu- the culture (Torop 2011: 39). We can isolate mentary makes meaning out of the real with visual and linguistic elements in a single visual, auditive and audiovisual recordings. work, but our thinking can easily move back Through these connections, the documen- and forth between them. Each one of the tary can be articulated as a discursive modes has something to contribute to our practice conditioned on its representative understanding. All in all, visual culture is a relationship to the real (Rosen 2001: 256; fl uid structure, focused on understanding Valkola 2012: 46–47, 74). the response to visual media of both indi- viduals and groups (Valkola 2012: 28). The THERE ARE MORE WAYS THAN content of a fi lm is interpreted both by the ONE FOR REPRESENTING THE author and the viewer. The viewers’ under- WORLD IN DOCUMENTARY FILM standing of what they have seen depends Bill Nichols has argued that every docu- on what they know or have experienced in mentary has its own distinct voice with the past and how they have made sense of its own style or ‘grain’, which attests to the these experiences and tracked them in their individuality of the fi lmmaker or director memory. The memories can produce images (Nichols 2001: 99). According to Nichols’ of the past, and perception can unite the theory, we can identify six modes of repre- apparently disparate. (Valkola 2015: 31) sentation in documentary fi lm, which func- One of the central theoreticians of tion something like sub-genres to the docu- Soviet cinema, Sergei Eisenstein, has said mentary fi lm genre itself: poetic, expository, that fi lm reproduces a scene with all the participatory, observational, refl exive and same methodological features that are performative (Nichols 2001). Consequently, employed for refl ecting reality in the move- the modes originated in chronological ment of psychic processes (Эизенштейн order, corresponding to the development 1964: 303). Cinematic literacy increases of general fi lmic concepts and technical proportionally to the formation of experi- opportunities. Each new mode offered a ences. When the viewers have acquired a new dominant to organise a fi lm, a new ide- certain amount of experience in receiving ology to explain our relation to reality and a cinematic information, they compare what new set of issues and desires to preoccupy they see on the screen not only with life, but also with clichés in fi lms that they already 3 E.g., creative interpretation of reality (John Grierson); life as it is; life caught unawares (Dziga Vertov), to name know. (Lotman 1981: 32) Valkola posits that just a few most important ones of many defi nitions.

8 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE an audience. (Nichols 2001: 102) Following in fi lm (Bazin [1967] 2004: 44). Bazin called this, each mode established a hierarchy of silent fi lm, based on the plastics of imagery specifi c conventions or norms. However, and editing craftsmanship, ‘expressionist’ or these are not very strict and allow incorpo- ‘symbolist’, and the narrative form of sound rating a great deal of stylistic, national and fi lm ‘analytical’ or ‘dramatic’ (Bazin [1967] individual variation without losing the force 2004: 47). Since, in the 1960s Tallinnfi lm of an organising principle. (Nichols 1991: 23) lacked the capacity to produce documenta- Juri Lotman divides directors into two ries with high-quality synchronised sound4, groups: those who believe in fi gurativeness the authors, in a sense, resorted to the and those who believe in reality. The former forms of expression of silent fi lm. impose their own interpretation of the depicted events on the viewers; in their cin- DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT ematography, ‘the sense is not included in DYNAMICS IN THE WEST AND the shot, but arises in the consciousness of THE BALTIC STATES the audience as the result of montage pro- In the Western world, the concept of poetic jection’. The latter strive to register instead fi lm began losing its relevance in the late of construct, with the photographed object 1950s, with the emphasis shifting towards prevailing over the interpretation. (Lotman a more immediate recounting of events 1981: 47, 48) (Nichols 2001). However, in the Soviet Union, The early years of documentary fi lm and the Baltic republics in particular, the were dedicated to the poetic and expository poetic mode did not rise to the fore until the modes, joined by the observational and early 1960s, when native fi lmmakers began participatory modes in the 1960s. In 1965, graduating from the VGIK and returning to when Ruhnu was released, the performative their home republics to work in fi lm studios. and refl exive modes were yet to be born. The Latvian national school of documentary My hypothesis posits that the only way to fi lm is even called the Riga School of Poetic bypass censorship in a totalitarian society Documentary Cinema. Considering the fact was to use a mode dominated by fi gurative- that Baltic and Belarusian fi lmmakers had ness, hence the poetic mode according to annual reunions, there is no doubt that the Nichols, which will be discussed in more notion of poetic fi lm was also relevant in detail below. Tallinnfi lm. Khrushchev’s Thaw in the second half In order to understand what was of the 1950s introduced a more extensive meant by the term ‘poetic’ in Tallinnfi lm, renewal of the forms of expression in the where the VGIK school of thought was Soviet Union, and was also characterised predominant, it is appropriate to turn to the by a preference for visual expression over history of Soviet cinema. According to the narrative and sound in fi lms. Cinematog- Russian fi lm historian Evgenii Margolit, the raphers were often more important than meaning of the term ‘poetic fi lm’ varies, as directors themselves in constructing a it has been interpreted in completely con- fi lm’s meaning and creating metaphors. trasting terms in different years (Марголит (Prokhorov 2001: 12, 13) And the director of 2012). One of the fi rst theoreticians to Ruhnu, Andres Sööt (Figure 1), graduated discuss this term was the formalist Viktor from the All-Union State Institute of Cin- Shlovsky. In 1927, he wrote: ematography (Всесоюзный государственный институт кинематографии, VGIK) as a cinema- There are prosaic fi lms and poetic tographer in 1963. fi lms, and that is the main distinc- A clue to a wider context for Ruhnu, tion between genres: they are not with its relative absence of verbal text, is distinguished based on rhythm, or provided by André Bazin, who equated the introduction of sound in fi lm with the sub- 4 Author’s interview with Enn Säde, sound engineer at stitution of antirealism with relative realism Tallinnfi lm (9 August 2012).

9 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE

rhythm alone, but by the fact that even if text was used, it was done without (in poetic fi lm) the technical-formal building a political platform.5 features dominate over semantic features, whereas formal features VIEWERS’ PRIOR EXPERIENCES replace semantic features in creating INTERPRET THE MEANING OF a composition. A fi lm without a plot is FILMIC TEXT a ‘poem-like’ fi lm. (Шкловскии 1927: 93; According to James Paul Gee, human author’s translation) language has two primary functions: to scaffold the performance of social activities The Latvians describe their school as fol- (whether play or work or both) and to scaf- lows: ‘This school pays special attention fold human affi liation within cultures and to the visual language of the fi lm, thus social groups and institutions (Gee 2010: 1). creating a peculiar – poetic – manner of the But, documentary.’ They look to the 1920s for inspiration: ‘One of the school’s key princi- making visible and recognizable ples was to follow the forgotten attitude of who we are and what we are Dziga Vertov to the documentary fi lm as a doing always requires more than material for art.’ (Riga s.a.) language. It requires, as well, that Margolit offers the option of applying we act, think, value, and inter- the term ‘poetic fi lm’ to fi lms where the act in ways that together with metaphorical (or more accurately, meta- language render who we are and physical) level stands out as convincing, what we are doing recognizable while the level of the mundane or prosaic is to others (and ourselves). In fact, absent. In the early 1960s, the Soviet cul- to be a particular who and to pull turologist Maya Turovskaya posited that the off a particular what requires primary principle of poetic fi lm was the use that we act, value, interact, and of allusions as an artistic attempt to defi ne, use language in sync with or in to a fi rst approximation, things that could coordination with other people not be defi ned by logic (Марголит 2012). and with various objects (‘props’) According to Bill Nichols, poetic docu- in appropriate locations and at mentaries, while based in the historical appropriate times. (Gee 2010: 14; world, transform the material in distinctive original emphasis) ways. This mode emphasises affect, mood and tone, while rhetorical elements remain Gee states that the key to discourse is underdeveloped. The dominance of poetic, recognition. associational features over the transfer of information is underlined. (Nichols 2001: If you put language, action, 103) Nichols also suggests that partici- interaction, values, beliefs, sym- pants seldom take on the full-blooded form bols, objects, tools, and places of characters with psychological complex- together in such a way that others ity and a fi xed view of the world. People recognize you as a particular more typically function on a par with other type of who (identity) engaged in objects as raw material that fi lmmakers a particular type of what (activ- select and arrange into associations and ity) here and now, then you have patterns of their choosing. (Nichols 2001: pulled off a Discourse. (Gee 2010: 102) 18; original emphasis) Sööt himself has recalled that by the mid-1960s, there was a palpable thirst In recognising fi lm form, the audience must among fi lmmakers for creating poetic docu- be prepared to understand formal cues mentaries, fi lms about nature and people, some without any text or commentary, and 5 Author’s interview with Andres Sööt (16 July 2014).

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FIGURE 1. Andres Sööt ﬁ lming a newsreel in Ruhnu. 1963 or 1964. Photo by Peeter Tooming. FIGURE 2.

11 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE through knowledge of life and other forms interpretation constructed by the author. of artistic expression. Such features as I will explore how the logic argument tradition, a dominant style, a popular form, impacts the spatial and temporal continuity which are common to various different between shots. I will analyse the way shots fi elds of art, are usually called conventions. create meaning, which is one of the main Filmmakers assume that the viewers are functions of shots. Within a shot, there are, familiar with conventions and are willing to at the same time, text and metatext, life and go along with the game. (Bordwell, Thomp- its modelling interpretation (Lotman 1981: son 2013: 56) 82). Shot composition, i.e. the organisation In order to answer the question of how and positioning of visual elements in a the author constructed national identity, I shot, allows conveying certain meanings to will analyse the content of the fi lmic text. the viewers and saturating the shots with First, I will list the characters seen in the ‘messages’ constructed by the author as fi lm, as a documentary is constructed and well as adding subtext (Thompson, Bowen reconstructed by an array of discursive 2009: 23). The details used in shots and the participants or interpretive communities sequence of shots also carry meaning (Lot- (Nichols 1991: 17). Second, I will explore man 1981: 26). I will explain the role played what kind of actions are used to portray the by each one of these components of fi lm characters of the fi lm. Third, I will map out language and how that fi ts in with the clas- the environments of the fi lm’s plot. sifi cation of documentary modes. I will then analyse whether the char- For example, in terms of images, the acters portrayed correspond to archetypal expository mode employs images as illus- characters familiar from literature and trations or counterpoints; the poetic mode recorded history. I will also look out for con- as elements that construct the meaning ventions shared with other fi lms. of the fi lm, and the observational mode as immediate refl ections of the objective EACH MODE HAS world. We already know that fi lms need not ITS OWN CONVENTIONS be limited to one ‘pure’ mode, as the modes Each documentary mode identifi ed by Nich- function primarily as dominants. There is ols possesses examples that we can iden- considerable room to manoeuvre, which tify as prototypes or models which express allows incorporating a great deal of stylistic, uniquely the most distinctive qualities of national and individual variation without that mode (Nichols 2001: 99). Each mode losing the force of an organising principle. sets up a hierarchy of specifi c conventions (Nichols 1991: 23) or norms. Films need not be limited to only one mode, but the characteristics of THE DOCUMENTARY RUHNU a given mode function as dominants. They AS A NARRATION IN FILM give structure to the overall fi lm, but do The fi lm has seven discernible scenes: not dictate or determine every aspect of its 1. Prologue organisation. (Nichols 2001: 100) 2. Ruhnu – an island in the middle of In order to be able to identify the the sea prevailing mode, we must analyse the con- 3. An old fi sherman ventions that dominate a fi lm. I will explore 4. The parsonage the different components of fi lm language: 5. A fi shermen’s collective image (both in terms of mise-en-scène and 6. Agriculture cinematography), sound and editing. I will 7. A port under construction try to establish the respective motivations behind voice-over and direct delivery. I will First, I will explore the backdrop to the story. also analyse the use of music and sound. As the fi lm opens, we see shots of a beach, This will allow me to deduce whether the with bodies sunbathing on the sand. (Fig- aim is to refl ect objective reality or offer an ure 2) Incidentally, these three shots also

12 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE contain the only women featured in the fi lm; In the next scene, an old man goes to women will not to be seen again as the fi lm an even older log cabin, where seine nets progresses. Slowly, the opening shot begins have been meticulously laid to dry under the to rotate counter clockwise in relation to the eaves; he grabs a dip net and sets off across horizon. the fi eld. It is clear that these images – an Voice-over: ‘Living in sun city, it never old man, an old house and old-fashioned occurs to people that somewhere in the fi shing gear – have been removed from rough sea is a small island, Ruhnu.’ the actual temporal context and represent In one breath, the narrator introduces the past. In terms of space and landscape, two possible living environments: sun city they constitute a contrast to the favourite and a small island. The rotating horizon can backgrounds of socialist realism: modern be construed as a symbol of the unnatural: kolkhoz centres with blocks of houses and sun city being unnatural. This message is administrative buildings. further emphasised by the action (or lack According to David Bordwell and thereof) of the sun city dwellers: sunbath- Kristin Thompson, shot composition is ing, the most useless of them all. The determined to a large degree by camera opposition of town versus country (or peas- position, which is characterised by the ants versus townies) is a narrative familiar angle, level, height and distance of framing. from the works of Tammsaare and meant Angled shots are used for assigning unique to guide us towards the topic of national meaning to the photographed objects. identity. The Soviet narrative, obviously, sup- Roughly speaking, framing can present ported the dictatorship of the proletariat, a straight-on angle, a low angle or a high which was accompanied by glorifying urban angle. The angle chosen lends a subjective spaces and forcing the entire population connotation to the shot. (Bordwell, Thomp- of the country to towns (an example is the son 2013: 188–195) Sööt employs different nomad herders of the Far North who were angles in fi lming; particularly expressive are forced to move to villages by the Soviet a low-angle shot of the fi sherman (Figure 3) regime). It is therefore quite evident where and a long shot with a white horse. Sööt’s sympathy lies. As Roy Thompson and Christopher In Ruhnu, Sööt offers an alternative to Bowen state, a straight-on angle refl ects urban idling. A small vessel puts to sea from the objective world without any connota- the port of Pärnu. We hear a low humming, tions, whereas a character seen from menacing melody in the background. As below becomes larger, more looming, more soon as the boat reaches Ruhnu, the music signifi cant, and more powerful. A person or changes. The image clearly conveys to the object observed from below assumes a sub- viewers that this beach is different from the stantial presence, is considered larger than beach in the prologue. There are no naked life and as having an upper hand in terms of bodies; instead, waves are rolling to the shore. the narrative. In contrast, a high-angle shot Thus, we can compare the two settings: the yields an understanding within the viewer of one over there and the one over here. the character on the screen being smaller, In the fi rst minutes, the viewers are weaker, more subservient, diminutive or presented with common conventions: we currently in a less powerful or compromised see shots of symbolic images that are position. (Thompson, Bowen 2009: 41, 42) sequenced based on contrast: a city and In Ruhnu, the old fi sherman is thus shown an island; sunbathers and an empty beach. as a hero. A white horse in a fi eld in an When transitioning from the city beach to era where progress was symbolised by the remote island, we are offered shots of machines is a clear homage to a bygone a port and a ship. Spatial continuity is thus time. (Figure 4) The old man reaches the honoured. The voice-over text is laconic; it beach and proceeds to check the drift nets does not copy the image or provide clarify- in an old-fashioned manner in his wooden ing information. boat (notably, the boat is pushed forward

13 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE with one oar, used as a pole, like ‘in the Although Sööt fi lms people going olden days’). (Figure 5) This is preceded by about their business as if he were merely an yet another rather unusual angle: a long outside observer, it is very clear that the shot of sky and a stretch of land, featuring imagery is distinctive and completely con- the old man walking, with the dip net in trolled. In the observational mode, the his hand, and a lone log cabin. (Figure 6) viewer also needs to understand that the The director returns to the low-angle shot fi lm puts forth a spontaneous observation. for showing the fi sherman going about his This is not the case with Ruhnu. The distinc- business with the drift net; he is photo- tive shot compositions in the fi rst scene graphed from below and against the sky. point to a poetic exposition of reality. The (Figure 7) As in the previous shot of the sky, role of the visual image is primary in con- we now see a shot of the sea, with the logic veying the meaning. Music has secondary of the shot reversed: three quarters of the importance. Text is reduced to a minimum shot is fi lled with water, with the fi sherman and its task is to support the image and not far off on the horizon, and a stretch of sky assume the position of the main provider of above. (Figure 8) information. The camera distance determines the Next, we see a wooden gate leading to size of the shot and has a signifi cant impact a churchyard squeaking open. Ruhnu has a on the reaction of the viewers by shaping wooden church. (Figure 9) We see mossy their understanding of the action/charac- and tattered wooden crosses. The camera ters. As Bordwell and Thompson explain, in cuts to a close-up of the names and dates. the extreme long shot, the human fi gure is The crosses measure time by centuries. lost or tiny. The long shot usually encom- Then, we see an iron cross commemorating passes a wide stretch of space and shows a Russian lighthouse keeper who had died the fi lmed object in its entirety, while the in 1890. This is also a small piece of history. background still dominates. (Bordwell, The ‘good old Swedish era’ had ended, to be Thompson 2013: 190) The strangely framed replaced by the reign of the Russian Tsar. long shots with a lone fi gure in the upper Static images in the shot convey the pas- section of the shot in Ruhnu symbolise the sage of time, which can be measured in insignifi cance of man compared to nature. centuries. These could be considered shots of land- Voice-over: ‘What compelled the scape with man as a component of land- ancient fi shermen of Gotland to come to the scape. This reaction opposes the Stalinist barren Baltic Sea?’ archetype of man subordinating nature. The author uses montage to make a Man is portrayed as a part of the scenic leap in space by placing a shipwreck that nature, as enjoying an intimate relationship has run aground among the crosses. This with it and as being dependent on its cutaway turns the wreck into a metaphor bounty. We can also easily recognise a proving that man has not always gained the national archetype: a hard-working man upper hand with the sea. toiling in ethnic landscapes and having to Voice-over: ‘The need to fi nd a piece of get by with simple tools (a dip net, only one land, an island of one’s own; and once found, oar, a traditional drift net). to conquer the sea.’ While there are some eels in the drift While that sentence is true to the net, our attention is lured away from these Michurinist canons of subordinating nature fi sh delicacies in short supply to a close-up of and stands apart from the overall context, it the wrinkled old fi sherman, also photo- is also true that the ‘battle’ between the sea graphed from below eye level. There is no and man is a leitmotif of the Estonian liter- doubt about it, he embodies the Estonian ary tradition, represented by Rough Sea national archetype: a man who does not scorn (Karge meri, 1938) by August Gailit, Windy work, has spent his entire life dependent on Shore (Tuuline rand, 1951–1966) by Aadu nature and deserves the status of the hero. Hint, screenplay Kihnu Jõnn or Captain from

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FIGURE 3. FIGURE 4.

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FIGURE 5. FIGURE 6.

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FIGURE 7. FIGURE 8.

17 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE the Woods (Kihnu Jõnn ehk Metskapten, - Understood. I can’t say right now, 1965) by Juhan Smuul and many others. The roughly fi ve tonnes of fi sh today. Over. topic of conquering nature was familiar - A muffl ed answer that ends with the already before the Soviet occupation and question: Where do you have those even before World War I. We know from the boats? classics of Estonian literature that when - The boats are about Südwest of Ruhnu peasants were fi rst given a chance to buy on that new shoal. Over. land in the 19th century, there was not enough fertile land to go around. Andres of Notably, this is the only synchronised dia- Vargamäe, from Tammsaare’s Truth and logue in the entire fi lm. The emphasis is on Justice, a major archetype of the Estonian the last sentence: ‘The boats are about Süd- man, had to dig ditches in the marshland to west of Ruhnu’. Ruhnu was a so-called out- ‘make more land’. post in the sea or a protruding border that Voice-over: ‘A man who has no faith in was surrounded by the Iron Curtain. The himself is lost at sea.’ boats being Südwest hints at something A fi gure of a lone man opens the church pertaining to the world of fantasy for the door in the upper section of the shot. Views Soviet citizens of the time. While people of the church interior. The camera sweeps did know that a different world existed in over the family insignia engraved in the the West, very few could actually breathe seats and lingers on a knight’s coat of arms. that air. Seamen were among the chosen It belongs to Johan Martens and dates back few. This short dialogue snippet thus con- to 1731. (Figure 10) The exact age is of minor structs in the viewers’ minds a momentary importance; it is enough that we understand state that suggests that there is no Iron that it is old and not of peasant origin. The Curtain. next family insignia feature words in Swed- As the fi nal sentences are uttered, we ish. In the background, we hear mumbling in fi nd ourselves back in a plane fl ying above Swedish, resembling incantation. Clearly, Ruhnu. We see houses for the fi rst time. this was not feasible in reality, which means Next a car ride, accompanied by a that the sound is non-diegetic. Thus, the menacing-sounding organ. A small truck shot does not reproduce reality the way it is, stops on the berth. We see a lone fi shing which would be the aim of observational boat at sea. As was the case with the jour- mode, but conveys an idea by the author, ney from the city to the island, when the which points to the poetic mode as well as a author used a cutaway to mark spatial pro- tendency for escapism. Imagine the things gress, he now punctuates the arrival at the that church must have seen, thinks the seashore in the same manner. Moments viewer. It is obvious that this has nothing to such as these can be considered a deviation do with the current regime. from the poetic mode, with conventions that We see the relief of the Devil on the do not require that the verses be joined in side plaque of a chair. logical sequences. Voice-over: ‘In a moment of weakness, The fi shing boat Manilaid docks. Men he creates God, only to be abandoned as he begin unloading the fi sh. The episode is regains his strength.’ composed of close-ups and uses rhythmic The next shot features the already editing. The close-ups in motion make the familiar composition: a narrow stretch of viewers feel as though they are taking part land with one tree and the immense sky in unloading the fi sh. Even the cigarette with an airplane, colloquially called a ‘jam break comes just in time, as we are about to shelf’. An aerial shot of the meeting of sea grow tired. There are men of all ages: from and land. In the background, we hear radio young boys to old men, with wrinkled, wind- communications, which are so poorly artic- and water-beaten faces. The accompanying ulated that they function as a general piano chords are precise and in lockstep soundscape. with the images.

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FIGURE 9. Andres Sööt and Andres Arnover in front of the wooden church of Ruhnu. 1965. Photo by Jaak Annok.

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FIGURE 10. FIGURE 11.

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FIGURE 12. FIGURE 13.

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FIGURE 14. FIGURE 15.

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FIGURE 16. FIGURE 17.

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The scene in itself portrays another Next, we see a young apple tree with a day in a Soviet fi shing collective, and couple of apples swinging back and forth in because it is composed of close-ups, time the wind, photographed from below, just as and space lose their meaning. (Figure 11) the fi sherman was photographed before. In Close-ups are construed as metaphors in the reverse shot (high-angle shot), we see a fi lms (Lotman 1981: 44) and also facilitate a man sitting on the ground tying the wiry closer, more intimate relationship between apple tree to a brace. The bird’s-eye per- the character and the audience (Thompson, spective highlights man’s helplessness in Bowen 2009: 18). As a result, Sööt’s chosen the face of nature. All this is accompanied mode even allows the kolkhoz workers to be by monotonous music with two alternating associated with national archetypes. The chords. The episode ends by zooming out sea and man; man and the sea. The rhyth- from the man, positioned in the centre of mically pulsating editing emphasises the the shot, lovingly tying the young plant. poetic aspect; the phrases are rhymed and The voice-over texts are always measured. laconic, their content philosophical, but in A cutaway with a wave washing to the my view not of the best artistic quality. The shore is yet another version of the ¾ versus text lacks the all-knowing renderings char- ¼ proportion. This time, the shot is fi lled by acteristic of expository mode. It constitutes the land and the sea, leaving a narrow a part in the poetic narrative, and the most stretch for the sky. In the upper section of insignifi cant part at that. the shot we see a man working, progressing The cut to the next scene breeds anxi- to pushing a fully loaded cart in the next ety. A fl ock of gulls takes fl ight and the shot. (Figure 12) music grows menacing. And we soon fi nd Voice-over: ‘How are values born? Man out why: a truck full of rocks drives onto the transcends the border of old convictions.’ jetty in the port and is being guided by a Unexpectedly, the man with a cart on man in the upper section of the shot. The the beach comes to a new apple orchard. In rocks are dumped into the sea. the next shot, he falls to his knees and Voice-over: ‘Man learns more about starts scraping the sand around a young himself at sea than he does on land, as the apple tree with his bare hands. (Figure 13) sea is more changeable than man. Land pro- Voice-over: ‘The sea and sand grow vides a sense of safety. Land offers protec- apples, if man so wishes and applies himself.’ tion from the whims of the sea.’ The man is shovelling the sand next to We are shown several shots of the load an apple tree in the upper right corner of a of rocks rolling off the truck, from different long shot. (Figure 14) An active single object angles. Finally, again the lone man in the top in the upper right corner of a shot is a rather section of the shot, throwing large cobble- rare combination. The action itself is also stones into the sea, alternating with a mon- strange, to put it mildly. It certainly does not tage shot of waves crashing to the berth. portray an essential part of daily life on (Figure 15) Man and waves, man and Ruhnu, but instead helps the author to con- waves… struct an archetypal Estonian in a new way. The musical instrument of choice for It is like an adaptation of Tammsaare’s Truth this episode is the organ. Long alternating and Justice. Andres of Vargamäe fought the chords become accentuated with nervous marsh and became an archetype for an notes, and when the jetty is fi nally com- Estonian, just as Tammsaare’s work became plete, the music culminates in a coda. a core text. And is it not equally stubborn The context of Truth and Justice is just and selfi sh to turn wetlands into arable as appropriate for this episode. Once again, land and to start an apple orchard in an we see the opposition of a lone man versus unsuitable environment? Both are veering machines and nature. Again, man is towards sadomasochism, but offer nourish- attempting to take away from nature. There ment for the national identity. we have it, the true Estonian who works

24 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE until he dies, as there is always something that consciously dissociated more to do. Sööt is consistent in his style. themselves from the immediate Each separate character represented in the Soviet surroundings and realities, space-time continuum on the screen is generating a somewhat nostalgic, conveyed as an archetype; the only group escapist atmosphere [---] Instead (the fi shermen loading crates) is portrayed of the spaces appropriated by in close-up, allowing them to reach the level the mechanised and gargantuan of a metaphor and break away from the Soviet ‘agrocracy’, they provided space of reality. a mnemoscape of the pre-war The next scene opens with a long shot countryside, intimate, tender and of a caterpillar tractor and a boat, followed familiar. (Näripea 2011: 12) by two men walking. (Figure 16) The boat passes the camera under different angles, Näripea has observed that repeated shots with a low-angle shot being the most mem- of waterfronts, rocky beaches caressed by orable, once again (as with the fi sherman in splashing waves visually emphasise the the opening episode). motif of a border. At the same time, though, In terms of composition, the shot with these images mask and distort the actual the tractor, boat and two men is a particu- situation of life in border zones, which were larly peculiar one. But it takes us back to in fact carefully guarded by the Soviet Army. the meeting of land and sea and to land- (Näripea 2011: 92) This could be the reason scapes moulded by man. why the Soviet institutions approached Voice-over: ‘As a point of departure, we such tendencies in Estonian fi lm leniently. need a port, a good port.’ More than half of the feature fi lms A small truck ‘races’ by the strange directed by Estonian directors in Tallinnfi lm procession. in the early 1960s portrayed the coast or Voice-over: ‘Conquering the sea contin- islands in particular.6 Considering the fact ues here. This is where the ships put out to that the author of a work of art belongs to a sea.’ certain era and represents certain ideas, The fi nal words are again accompa- perceptions, intentions and psychology nied by an aerial shot of the port facility (Лотман, Цивьян 2014: 12), it is not surprising built by man. The stone jetties form a regu- that Sööt portrays the world in such a man- lar geometric image in the sea. (Figure 17) ner. The fl ight continues, until only the sea Andres Sööt was the fi rst director in the remains in the shot. End credits roll over the Estonian SSR to refl ect on national identity fi nal image. in documentary fi lm. He takes the viewers to a small island in the Gulf of Riga, which was A YEARNING FOR populated by the Swedes before World War BYGONE TIMES II. This place was the furthest from the urban According to Näripea, the fi lmmakers who environment glorifi ed by Leninist party poli- emerged in Soviet Estonia in the 1960s tics. A true periphery in every sense. We are managed to separate the national identity generally shown only fragments of this con- from the Soviet identity with the help of fi ned space, save for some aerial shots. The landscapes and spaces: presence of the Soviet regime is not discernible in these fragments. These fi lmmakers often Näripea has used the term illusionary attempted to avoid contemporary ‘ideal landscapes’, which represented a subject matters, kolkhoz set- longing for bygone times, particularly the tings and the ‘nodal points’ of the Sovietised historical timeline. 6 Fellow Villagers (Ühe küla mehed, 1961) and Letters Instead, they frequently sought from Sõgedate Village (Kirjad Sõgedate külast, 1966) by Jüri Müür; and Ice-Drift (Jääminek, 1962) and Traces to construct ‘nation-spaces’ (Jäljed, 1963) by Kaljo Kiisk.

25 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE lost independence (Näripea 2011: 92). I It is easy to fi nd similar discourses agree with this wholeheartedly. Sööt intro- elsewhere in the world history of documen- duced this trend in documentary fi lm and tary fi lm. Man of Aran (UK, 1934) by Robert there were many others who passionately Flaherty celebrates island life, the tena- shared his vision.7 cious struggle of man in taming the harsh Raimo Jõerand has observed that ‘in nature, selfl essness and a sense of com- terms of spatial memory, the space that munity. Flaherty’s mode was clearly poetic, carries the strongest meaning in Estonian with the image as the main element for con- fi lm is the seaside, as a last frontier’ veying his message. Granted, Flaherty’s (Jõerand 2014). Ruhnu contains more shots constructs were not impacted by the loss of of the sea and land coming together than independence or ideological watchdogs in there are episodes in the fi lm. the form of censors. Similarly to the fragments of land- Refl ecting a sense of community plays scapes, Ruhnu also emphasises the lone an important role in constructing a national man who operates in that space. We never identity. A sense of community is created by see women on Ruhnu Island. This is a rather shared values and beliefs. According to obvious reference to the middle of the 19th Nichols, a sense of community often seems century, when national awakening began in like an ‘organic’ quality that binds people Estonia and the basis for a national narra- together when they share a culture, tradi- tive was established. The Estonian family tions and a common goal. As such, it may was patriarchal, where the father fi gure was seem far removed from issues of ideology, almost equated with God. As mentioned where competing beliefs struggle to win our above, the most monumental literary work hearts and minds. (Nichols 1991: 142) written in Estonia before the Soviet occupa- The socialist realism prevalent in tion was Tammsaare’s Truth and Justice. The post-war Soviet Union was extremely ideologi- Protestant-minded sentence uttered in its cal, using undeniably rhetorical means and a fi nal tome by the protagonist, Andres of style that manipulated viewers. Obviously, the Vargamäe, which read ‘Work hard and love conventions of socialist realism were not will follow’, became rooted in the conscious- suited for constructing national identity. ness of Estonians as a proverb of sorts. The few actions portrayed by Sööt in Ruhnu can THE POETIC MODE ALLOWED almost all be compared to the toiling of FOR CONVEYING A NATIONAL Andres of Vargamäe. Sööt keeps coming NARRATIVE back to a lone man and contrasting him Sööt chose the poetic mode because he with machines and nature. Man’s constant was drawn to the romantic idealism that striving to take away from nature. A true was practiced by Flaherty and pays homage Estonian works until he dies, as there is to a lost world. In the Soviet Union, the always something more to do. poetic mode was the only ideologically Assuming that the key to a discourse lies acceptable way for an author to fi nd artistic in its recognisability, Sööt successfully con- expression for something that, if put into structs a clearly recognisable Estonian iden- words, would result in political persecution. tity and creates a discourse with his 10-min- Nichols believes that the poetic mode ute documentary. For Tammsaare, the values gives an impression of honesty, despite the of Estonian identity were borne by peasants, fact that the effect of the fi nal work of art is whereas Sööt attributes this role to islanders, problematic and ambiguous. The poetic whether they are seamen or farmers. mode has many facets, but they all emphasise the ways in which the fi lmmaker’s voice gives fragments of the historical world aes- 7 Home Village (Koduküla, 1969) by Peep Puks and Peeter thetic integrity. (Nichols 2001: 103–105) Tooming; Storm Day Off (Tormipüha, 1972) and Three Documentary fi lm helps give tangible Winters (Kolm talve, 1973) by Peep Puks; Kassilaane (1982) by Peeter Tooming, etc. expression to the values and beliefs that

26 BALTIC SCREEN MEDIA REVIEW 2015 / VOLUME 3 / ARTICLE build or contest social belonging or specifi c Sööt himself has attributed this kind of forms of community at a given time and shot composition to a poetic aspiration:8 to place (Nichols 2001: 142). Sööt succeeds in emphasise a tiny piece of land in a vast sea. providing an intense portrayal of national The intermittent aerial shots serve the narrative in ten minutes because he makes same function. We see an island completely use of means of fi lmic expression; fi rst and surrounded by sea. foremost, he selects his characters care- Another important element for assign- fully, represents action in a fragmentary ing meaning to a shot is angle. Here, the manner and makes use of controlled shot author also tends to dispense with the compositions. The film mainly celebrates a standard, ‘neutral’ representation of the stubborn work ethic and the coexistence world and instead opts for expressive low- of man and nature. The author manages to angle shots. Sööt also uses one high-angle convey such a concentrated message in shot – for conveying man’s insignifi cance only ten minutes because the informa- compared to nature. tiveness of an artistic text is greater, and Near the very end, we learn from the the text is always smaller in volume than aerial shot that there are dozens of houses an equivalent, non-artistic text (Lotman on the island. Until that moment, we have 1981: 50). In addition to the standard rules seen a fi sherman’s hut, a kolkhoz adminis- of grammar, poetry is guided by some trative building, the port and the church. All additional rules; rhyme, meter, style, etc. are depicted separately and there is no way (ibid.) of knowing how they are positioned in rela- Three types of narration are simulta- tion to each another. neously present in fi lm: visual, verbal and An important character in Ruhnu is the musical (audial). Interrelations of great church, while churches were generally complexity can rise among them. (Lotman scorned in Soviet fi lm. We know of a case 1981: 69) In Ruhnu, the dominant type of from a later period where just including a narration is visual narration. Music only long shot of a church in a fi lm made its offi - accentuates the mood and the verbal por- cial approval problematic (Entering the tion is minimal. Voice-over text does not Organ [Oreli sisse minek], Enn Säde and inform or manipulate, as was customary in Olav Neuland, Eesti Telefi lm, 1974). the Soviet documentary fi lm of the 1960s. Maybe Sööt managed to ‘legalise’ the Rather, the voice-over becomes a part of church episode by adding the voice-over the soundscape, aimed at emphasising text: ‘In a moment of weakness, he creates the poetry and lending rhythm to the God, only to be abandoned as he regains his verses. strength.’ This sentence suggests a scepti- cal attitude towards faith, which sat well SHOT COMPOSITION IS with the Soviet discourse. It was also ideo- INTEGRATED INTO THE TEXT logically convenient to show an empty In the long shots, Sööt makes use of unu- church as an abandoned museum item. sual shot compositions, primarily by ignor- However, the Swedish family insignia ing the standard rule of thirds. Usually, the in the same church, accompanied by sen- image fi eld of a shot is divided into three tences uttered in Swedish in audio, was horizontal and vertical parts, with points of complete escapism. The Estonian viewers visual interest placed in the intersections of did not need to understand the sentences; two lines. Sööt has divided his shot in four it was enough for them to know that this and positioned visual points of interest was Swedish language and that there was according to an unorthodox logic. The share a church that was Swedish through and of the sky in a shot is very erratic: in one through on the island of Ruhnu in the instance it is merely a narrow stretch above the sea, and in another, a vast expanse 8 From a conversation with the author (1 December above a narrow stretch of land. 2014).

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Estonian SSR. The Kingdom of Sweden national identity. Sööt creates meaning in constituted a symbol of freedom that was Ruhnu with the help of particular fi lmic ele- virtually unreachable in 1965. But Ruhnu ments, such as shot composition and could reach out and touch Sweden. sound, but also by building on the viewers’ knowledge of literature and history. The par- CONCLUSION ticular historical context also played a role: In the early 1960s, the Soviet Union was still the feature fi lm department of Tallinnfi lm in the process of distancing itself from the was adapting literary classics and our Lat- Stalinist reign of terror. This was accompa- vian neighbours were churning out poetic nied by a signifi cant increase in the free- fi lms. Documentary fi lmmakers from the dom of speech. As the arena of culture had Baltic republics and Belarus had annual been waiting for that moment for a long reunions where they showed each other time, innovation began immediately in lit- their fi lms, and the different departments erature, theatre, recording of history and of Tallinnfi lm were also familiar with each fi lm. In Estonia, cultural thought was mainly other’s work. Sööt thus made creative deci- shaped by literature and the recording of sions, while being a part of an operating history, and as of the 1960s, also fi lm. In the discourse and creating one himself. early 1960s, many fi lmmakers graduated It is paradoxical that while this was from VGIK and after having joined the Tal- happening, documentary fi lm in the West linnfi lm studio, began adapting national was leaning towards what was called a literary classics for fi lm. Documentary fi lm more realistic way of representing reality. also underwent a shift: Estonian crews The poetic and expository modes were con- began shooting stories on ethnic topics, sidered too removed from life and/or didac- along with socialist realism. tical. The engineers were challenged to Turning to the poetic mode was the come up with portable sound recorders that only way to cater to a national sense of unity could be synchronised with the camera. without opposing the dominant telos. The This resulted in the birth of Direct Cinema poetic mode rejected the hyperrealist repre- and cinema vérité, where text and diegetic sentation of the historical world and instead sound played a very important role. Mean- opted for imagery, archetypes and allusions. while, the poetic fi lms created in Soviet In the Estonian SSR, this meant that the Estonia followed the conventions of silent heroes and landscapes used to represent fi lm to a certain degree. The main emphasis national identity were highlighted, albeit in was on imagery, and fi lms could convey the form of contemporary equivalents who messages without any sound at all. On the conveyed the same principles as best they one hand, this can be explained by the lim- could. As a result, directors turned to loca- ited technical capacity, but on the other, by tions that the offi cial ideology considered the skill to hide messages between the lines abandoned back-country and whose and convey ideas without any words, which appearance had remained unchanged by the fi lmmakers had developed within the the Soviet regime. The new heroes were men system. stubbornly struggling with land or the sea, but at the same time, living in harmony with nature. In Ruhnu by Andres Sööt, these men were old and certainly had fi rst-hand memories of the age of lost freedom. While Tallinnfi lm had produced poetic fi lms before,9 Ruhnu by Sööt was the fi rst documentary to idealise the Estonian

9 E.g., Goodbye, Swamp Bogys (Hüvasti, sookollid!) by Hans Roosipuu and Stoney Lullaby (Kivine hällilaul) by Valeria Anderson, both in 1964.

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REFERENCES Sooväli, Helen 2008. ‘Maastiku kirurgia’. – Vikerkaar 7, Ansip, Karol 2006. Ülevaade Eesti dokumentaalfi lmi 130–137. arengusuundadest autorifi lmi tekkeni. Autorifi lmi näide Stam, Robert 2000. Film Theory: An Introduction. Andres Söödi loomingu põhjal. MA thesis. Eesti Malden: Blackwell. Humanitaarinstituut. Tallinn. Шкловскии, Виктор 1927. Поэзи я и проза в Ansip, Karol 2013. ‘Eesti tõsielufi lmi oma lugu. кинематографии. Поэтика кино. Москва: Кинопечать Põhijooned ja eripära kuuekümnendatest taasise- Ленинград. seisvuseni’. – Teater. Muusika. Kino 11, 94–106. Tamm, Marek 2012. Monumentaalne ajalugu. Loomingu Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin 2013. Film Art: Raamatukogu 28–30. Tallinn: Kultuurileht. An Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Teinemaa, Sulev 1991. Režissöör Peep Puksi tõsi- Bazin, André [1967] 2004. ‘The Evolution of the Lan- elufi lmid aastail 1969–1990. Diploma thesis. Tartu guage of Cinema’. – Leo Braudy, Marshall Cohen (eds.), Riiklik Ülikool. Tartu. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. 6th ed. Thompson, Roy; Bowen, Christopher J. 2009. Grammar New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 41–53. of the Shot. 2nd ed. Burlington, Oxford: Focal Press. Эизенштейн, Сергей 1964. Избранные произведения в Torop, Peeter 2011. Tõlge ja kultuur. Tallinn, Tartu: Tartu шести томах. Том 2. Москва: Искусство. Ülikooli Kirjastus. Эльманович, Татяна 1975. Образ факта. От публицистики Valkola, Jarmo 2002. Dokumentin teoria ja estetiikka к фильму на эстонском телевидении. Москва: Искусство. digitaalisen median aikakaudella. Jyväskylä: Cineart. Эльманович, Татяна 1977. Эстонское документально- Valkola, Jarmo 2012. Thoughts on Images: A Philosophi- публицистическое телевидение и его роль в cal Evaluation. Bucharest: Zeta Books. становлении телеискусства. (Прямое ТВ и телефильм). Valkola, Jarmo 2015. Filmi audiovisuaalne keel. Trans. Автореферат кандидата искусствоведения. Всесоюзный Elle Vaht, Karol Ansip, Kristiina Davidjants. Tallinn: государственный институт кинематографии. Москва. Varrak. Gee, James Paul 2010. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. S.l.: Taylor & Francis e-Library. Hennoste, Tiit 2011. ‘Heroism ja eksistentsialism. Mõttevahetus Eesti eksistentsiaalsusest’. – Looming 8, 1139–1148. Jõerand, Raimo 2014. ‘Eesti fi lmi tüvi’. – Sirp, 24 October. Lotman, Jurij 1981. Semiotics of Cinema. Trans. Mark E. Suino. Michigan Slavic Contributions 5. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan. Лотман, Юрий; Цивьян, Юрий 2014. Диалог с экраном. Tallinn: Argo. Lõhmus, Maarja 1999. Toimetamine. Kas looming või tsensuur. Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus. Марголит, Евгений 2012. ‘Что такое поэзия в кино’. – OpenSpace.ru. http://os.colta.ru/cinema/events/ details/37489/ (10 September 2015). Mesila, Tiit 1972. Ringvaade “Nõukogude Eesti”. Väljendusvahendid, žanrid ja sisu analüüs. Diploma thesis. Tartu Riiklik Ülikool. Tartu. MIA s.a. = Marxist Internet Archive Encyclopedia. https://www.marxists.org/glossary/index.htm (10 September 2015). Nichols, Bill 1991. Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press Nichols, Bill 2001. Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Näripea, Eva 2011. Estonian Cinescapes: Spaces, Places and Sites in Soviet Estonian Cinema (and Beyond). Dissertationes Academiae Artium Estoniae 6. Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Arts. Oinas, Felix J. 1984. Vargamäe tõde ja õigus. Esseid / Truth and Justice of Vargamäe and Other Essays. Stockholm: Välis-Eesti & EMP. Orav, Õie 2003. Tallinnfi lm I. Mängufi lmid 1947–1976. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus. Prokhorov, Alexander 2001. Springtime for Soviet Cinema: Re/Viewing the 1960s. Trans. Dawn A. Seckler. Pittsburgh. http://www.rusfi lm.pitt.edu/booklets/Thaw. pdf (11 September 2015). Riga s.a. = ‘Riga School of Poetic Documentary Cinema’. http://www.latfi lma.lv/history/9rig01.html (28 September 2015). Rosen, Philip 2001. Change Mummifi ed: Cinema, Historicity, Theory. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. Ruutsoo, Rein 2000. ‘Sotsiaalteaduste võimalused: demo-kraatia diskursus ja diskursiivne demokraatia annekteeritud Eestis’. – Viive-Riina Ruus (ed.), Kõnelev ja kõneldav inimene. Eesti erinevate eluvaldkondade diskursus. Tallinn: Tallinna Pedagoogikaülikooli Kirjastus, 24–62.