In a striking, highly expressive black and white, the film tells a tragic love story with the rhythms and themes of a fairy tale. The world is that of folklore, the characters are fantastic and metaphysical: there is the Devil, there is the Plague, there is the Witch, there are the peasants who sell their souls to the Devil to get surreal metal workers in exchange (peasant work tools tied together with, instead of a head, a bovine skull: they are the "kratt" of Estonian folklore). Everywhere there is theft, deception and death, and on the eve of all saints' days the dead come to visit the living, to eat with them at table and to claim their jewellery. And yet, in spite of all this, we are not in the realm of horror at all, but of the romantic fairy tale: Liina's love for her young peer Hans, who in turn loves the local baron's daughter with an impossible love, is the soul of the whole film. And the final underwater kiss of the two boys restores to the viewer the poetry of the fairy tales of our childhood.
A beautiful work embellished by a beautiful photography.
A beautiful work embellished by a beautiful photography.