{"id":4177,"date":"2012-01-08T20:08:51","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T01:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4177"},"modified":"2018-08-10T01:23:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T05:23:27","slug":"kevade-kruusement-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4177","title":{"rendered":"(Kruusement 1969) Kevade"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Oskar Luts (1887\u20131953) seems to per\u00adform the same func\u00adtion in Eston\u00adian lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture that W.O. Mitchell does for Cana\u00adda. His sequence of nov\u00adels describ\u00ading the lives of school chil\u00addren in the 1890\u2019s, and car\u00adry\u00ading their sto\u00adries for\u00adward into mid\u00addle age, are loved in his home\u00adland. These were writ\u00adten short\u00adly before World War One. All three of the nov\u00adels were filmed: Kevade<\/em> [Spring] (1969); Suvi<\/em> [Sum\u00admer] (1976); S<\/em>\u00fcgis<\/em> [Fall] (1991). All were direct\u00aded by Arvo Kru\u00aduse\u00adment, with some of the same actors appear\u00ading in the lot, notably Aare Laanemets as the ras\u00adcal\u00adly Joosep Toots. I have all three, but I\u2019ve only found Eng\u00adlish sub\u00adti\u00adtles for Kevade<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kevade<\/em> doesn\u2019t have much plot. Schoolkids pull pranks, tell lies that get them into trou\u00adble, have pup\u00adpy love, and get into fights with the kids in the neigh\u00adbour\u00ading Ger\u00adman parish school. At the time in ques\u00adtion, there was no Esto\u00adnia. The events take place in the Gov\u00ader\u00adnorate of Livo\u00adnia [Liivi\u00admaa kuber\u00admang<\/em>], a semi-autonomous seg\u00adment of the Russ\u00adian Empire still admin\u00adis\u00adtered semi-feu\u00addal\u00adly by its ancient Ger\u00adman-speak\u00ading nobil\u00adi\u00adty. Its ter\u00adri\u00adto\u00adry cov\u00adered half of what is now Esto\u00adnia and half of what is now Latvia. There was a sep\u00ada\u00adrate Livon\u00adian lan\u00adguage, relat\u00aded to, but quite dif\u00adfer\u00adent from Eston\u00adian, spo\u00adken in part of the Gorver\u00adnorate, which is now essen\u00adtial\u00adly extinct (there are only 20 flu\u00adent speak\u00aders). How\u00adev\u00ader, the sto\u00adry of Kevade<\/em> is set in an area near Tallinn where Eston\u00adian was spo\u00adken. The kids are required to learn some Russ\u00adian in school, and buy things with rubles, but there doesn\u2019t seem to be any sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant Russ\u00adian pres\u00adence or cul\u00adtur\u00adal influ\u00adence. The kids read adven\u00adture sto\u00adries about Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cow\u00adboys and Indi\u00adans, and the state of Ken\u00adtucky (!) is con\u00adstant\u00adly men\u00adtioned. The land\u00adscape looks eeri\u00adly like East\u00adern Ontario \u2015 a gen\u00adtly rolling coun\u00adtry\u00adside in which farm\u00adland is bro\u00adken up by sin\u00adu\u00adous creeks and large patch\u00ades of mixed for\u00adest. The tree species are sim\u00adi\u00adlar. The coun\u00adtry school, farm\u00adhous\u00ades and 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry fix\u00adtures could as eas\u00adi\u00adly be in rur\u00adal Cana\u00adda of the same era, though the sauna would only be found in North\u00adwest\u00adern Ontario. The fan\u00adcy Ger\u00adman school, how\u00adev\u00ader, looks entire\u00adly Euro\u00adpean. The only thing that seems odd is the dom\u00adi\u00adnant hair colour. You don\u2019t usu\u00adal\u00adly find a school\u00adroom in Cana\u00adda in which three quar\u00adters of the stu\u00addents are plat\u00adinum or flax\u00aden blondes, with a few brunettes thrown in.<\/span><\/p>\n

The usu\u00adal Eston\u00adian tropes appear in the sto\u00adry: a mys\u00adti\u00adcal aura around trees, and the theme of redemp\u00adtion through music. But most\u00adly, it\u2019s just a set of com\u00adic episodes about mis\u00adfired pranks. Valeri Blinov\u2019s cin\u00ade\u00admatog\u00adra\u00adphy is crisp, sharply focused, and gives the film most of its strength. The young actors are believ\u00adable. One gets the impres\u00adsion that the Eston\u00adian-lan\u00adguage schools could not hold to the rigid Pruss\u00adian dis\u00adci\u00adpline that, no doubt, held sway in the Ger\u00adman schools. The teach\u00aders are por\u00adtrayed sym\u00adpa\u00adthet\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly. This is no angry expos\u00e9 of child\u00adhood mis\u00adery and adult hypocrisy, though the sto\u00adry does touch slight\u00adly on injus\u00adtice and death. It\u2019s more along the lines of Ralph Connor\u2019s Glen\u00adgar\u00adry School\u00addays<\/em>, Edward Eggleston\u2019s The Hoosier School\u00admas\u00adter<\/em>, or W.O. Mitchell\u2019s Who Has Seen The Wind<\/em>. This is an hon\u00adourable tra\u00addi\u00adtion in both lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture and film, and Kruusement\u2019s cin\u00ade\u00admat\u00adic treat\u00adment of the sto\u00adry is a respectable con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion. It has nos\u00adtal\u00adgia and sen\u00adti\u00adment, but it isn\u2019t maudlin.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oskar Luts (1887\u20131953) seems to per\u00adform the same func\u00adtion in Eston\u00adian lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture that W.O. Mitchell does for Cana\u00adda. His sequence of nov\u00adels describ\u00ading the lives of school chil\u00addren in the 1890\u2019s, and car\u00adry\u00ading their sto\u00adries for\u00adward into mid\u00addle age, are loved \u2026<\/p>\n

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