- Most people don't think about singing when they think about revolutions. But song was the weapon of choice when, between 1986 and 1991, Estonians sought to free themselves from decades of Soviet occupation. During those years, hundreds of thousands gathered in public to sing forbidden patriotic songs and to rally for independence. "The young people, without any political party, and without any politicians, just came together ... not only tens of thousands but hundreds of thousands ... to gather and to sing and to give this nation a new spirit," remarks Mart Laar, a Singing Revolution leader featured in the film and the first post-Soviet Prime Minister of Estonia. "This was the idea of the Singing Revolution." James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty's "The Singing Revolution" tells the moving story of how the Estonian people peacefully regained their freedom--and helped topple an empire along the way.—Maureen Tusty
- The Singing Revolution traces the history of Estonia and the Baltic region from its very roots between 5,000 to 8,000 years ago through to the Singing Revolution. It tells of the conquests that Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and Russians had over the country and the many hands that this small nation passed through over the centuries. After 50 years of rule by the oppressive Soviet regime, the people of Estonia gave life to a grassroots movement for change by staging passionate rallies and singing forbidden patriotic songs.
James and Maureen Castle Tusty's moving documentary recounts Estonia's fight for independence from Soviet occupation, telling the remarkable story of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who gathered in public to voice their dissent through song.
The movie concentrates on acts of peaceful defiance of Estonians against their Russian occupiers through peaceful protests. This gentle people love music so much, they lovingly hand-craft pianos as one of their major industries -- if only 400 per year. The story is one of the step-by-step reestablishment of Estonians independence without violence and through mass demonstrations of unity and singing.
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