“1944 – Forced to Fight” – Movie Review

I came across the trailer for an Estonian WWII movie on Youtube some months back and that is quite a rarity. Estonia and the Baltic States are small countries, and I would think, less likely to raise the budget needed for good looking war movies, and furthermore the whole experience of WWII and its aftermath was quite traumatic. The countries suffered badly during WWII first annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 then by the Germans in 1941 and finally against by the Soviet Union in 1944 and until the end of the Cold War. The forced entry of two brutal regimes each with their own views and persecution and deportation of political opponents have left their mark on the countries.

 

During WWII the big question which divided the population was which regime could better give Estonia its independence back in the long run or at least some home government in the short run. Some believed the Germans were better reminding themselves of the Russian dominance in past centuries and Russian Civil War where many fought against the communists in the White Armies. Others were either communists or suffered at the hands of the Germans and chose to fight for the Soviet Union hoping their bravery and sacrifice would be rewarded.

Some 70.000 men volunteered or were conscripted by the Germans which was something like 6% of the population at that time. Although at first units were only very relunctantly formed by the Germans as police and defence battalions to police and combat Soviet partisans. These battalions were generally poorly equipped and trained and morale suffered. But when Finland had joined the war alongside the Germans, things changed. The Finns had a brother nation feeling towards Estonians (some which had also found their way into the Finnish army against the Soviet Union during the Winter War) and pressured the Germans for more acceptance of the Estonian cause for freedom. This lead to the Germans organizing a Estonian Legion in 1942 under the Waffen-SS since accepting Estonians into the regular German army (Wehrmacht) was difficult to accept. At first the legion had only regiment size and was attached to the Waffen-SS division Wiking to replace the Finnish regiment which had returned to Finland after she had joined the war. During 1943 the Germans due to increasing need for manpower expanded the legion first to a brigade and later a full division, but disillusioned with German policies a number of Estonians fled to Finland where they were recombined with other Estonian units to form an Estonian battalion in Finland.

Until 1944 the Russian-Estonian front line had been mostly static but in July that changed dramatically when the Red Army launched a massive strike to drive the Germans out of the Baltic and this the were the movie opens up. The Soviets are attacking the Tannenberg line which the Estonian SS Legion is holding together with SS-Wiking and other units.

 

It is hard to say too much about the movie to spoil it, it is a pretty generic but gritty war movie which is a pity because I had really high hopes for it. It covers one of the unknown parts of WWII and as such could be quite a gem but I feel it loses the bigger picture and while there are a couple of scenes that involves a bit of the politics such as a visit from an Estonian nazi sympathiser, it never gets really deep into the politics of the day.

It is interestingly enough told through the letters and notes which are passed from one character to another and of course passes to one of the other major Estonian units in the theater the Estonian Rifle Corps in the Red Army. In a twist of fate the Estonian units fighting for the Germans and those fighting for the Soviet Union came face to face. Tradegically each side fought each other not so much for the political agendas of their respective sponsors but for that they believed was for the best course for an independent Estonia.

The Red Army has a number of Estonians in their ranks although sources very hugely. Some 30.000 Estonians were mobilized when the Soviets evacuated Estonia in 1941 and some 20,000 people of Estonian origins were living inside the Soviet Union and were also conscripted but most were not used for front line duty as they were considered unreliable. The Estonian Rifle Corps did fight but was treated with mistrust as they considered politically unreliable and especially in the beginning of the war a number of these had defected to the Estonian Legion.

 

It may perhaps be that, it is aimed at a much narrower audience which is fine, it is likely an Estonian movie for Estonians who know their own story way better. The movie is enjoyable as a war movie, the battle scenes are well done and I like the attention to details which makes it stand out for a budget movie. In the trenches our group of soldiers comes across a Danish soldier cut off from his unit and have a brief chat about home and realize they are not so different from each other. Other nations also feature such as the Dutch SS which is shown in a minor role. And perhaps even better, weapons can run out of ammunition! All-in-all a decent well-made war movie but one that did not keep its potential of getting into the details which is a shame.

 

I give it 6/10. It is a decent movie but very specialized and did not live up to its interesting background story.