Cinema
Ask the Dead About the Price of Death
Surma hinda küsi surnutelt
Kaljo Kiisk · 1977
Synopsis
Tallinn, 1925. The communists who tried to overthrow the republic on 1 December 1924 are being hunted down; some fall to the blows of the political police, others make their way to the Soviet Union. Anton Sommer, one of the leaders of the failed uprising, is arrested and sentenced to death. His boyhood friend Bruno comes to see him with an offer from the authorities: his life will be spared if he writes a book on the futility of communist action. Between life and a death for an idea, Sommer must choose.
Context
The screenplay is by Mati Unt, the cinematography by Jüri Sillart, the sets by Tõnu Virve and the music by Lepo Sumera; the two leading roles were given to the Lithuanian actors Juozas Kisielius and Gediminas Girdvainis, and the director himself plays a small role as a doctor. The hero is modelled on Viktor Kingissepp. Produced at the Tallinnfilm studio in 1977, the film stood out from the revolutionary films of the time by replacing the exemplary militant with an ordinary man faced with a dilemma.
Who it is for
Seventy-seven minutes in Estonian, in colour, viewable with English subtitles. You should know what the attempted Communist coup of 1 December 1924 in Tallinn was.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prize at the All-Union Film Festival in Yerevan in 1978; shown in Adelaide and Taormina in 1979, then in Los Angeles in 1980.