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This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

That was an excellent one.

Simply Perfect

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Okay, it's not a perfect movie, so what? Very few are. This film attempts to tell its story from a point of view very rarely seen. Of course, it's not entirely accurate historically, but then I can't think of a single historical film from Hollywood that ever was either. Besides, it wasn't meant as a documentary, but as historical drama, where very often some liberties are taken with the facts in order to create a more personal story. However, where it is accurate is from the point of view of the people that participated in this historical time. I should know, because I'm an American of Latvian descent, and I heard these stories from my parents, grandparents and older relatives. In the greater context of this film, these events happened. I found many of the negative criticisms of this film unfounded and rather biased. Personally I think it's quite a good movie, and in the context of Latvian film, it is better than most. I did not find the characters as shallow as another reviewer did. They are all portrayed as human beings with aspirations, human strengths and weaknesses, doubts, etc. So what if certain clichés are used, like we are heroic and noble, and THEY are bad, cunning and manipulative. One reviewer accused the film of demonizing Germans and Russians. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Hollywood been demonizing them in films for many years? Besides, considering the fact that historically speaking, when the events of this film happened, The Russians ruled the country, and the German nobility owned the land, treating the indigenous population as serfs or slaves. There was no love for them, and in the context of history, why should they have felt it? Should a freed black slave love his white master? Why? This film accurately reflects the feeling in the country at the time, including the internal squabbling that did exist. Those that wanted independence and those that were afraid that there were powers greater than themselves that could destroy their dreams. The movie addresses this well. What's with the fistfight near the end between Martins and the one-eyed German? A reviewer complained about it. However, in the context of the scene, it fit. Martins disarms him of his bayonet, and what's left is their fists. If this was a Hollywood movie, there would be lengthy unrealistic overdone karate fights instead, but this was how men settled it then so I don't see the problem. Bottom line, it's a good movie and the fact that it portrays a time in history that most people know nothing about makes it even more interesting. I recommend it.

bff, i don't even know where to start... all in all, i didn't like it at all. the most annoying thing for me was that the Russians/Germans were "demonized" in the movie. Especially the Russian colonel. and every time the German general spoke, he tried to imitate Hitler. he might have been a good speaker in real life, but this also went to far - it's just ugly stereotyping. i also didn't like the main characters, they didn't connect very well with the audience. they seemed as if they were 5 years old sometimes... they took their decisions too simply, their dialogs most of the time pointless. also the age of actors should have been younger, most of them looked like they were 40-50. i'm sure most of the guys, who picked up the rifles, were younger(pupils, students etc) and what's up with the love stories? i know it might seem as a good idea to bring love stuff in the into war movies, but then show me some convincing love at least. it's a movie, it needs words! it's not a book where you can read your protagonist's thoughts. and why did Riga seem like a village all the time? also the story in the first 1,5h was quite pointless. why was it there anyway? if it wanted to bring the audience closer to the average Latvian person, then i they didn't do a very good job at it. also i didn't like the "unauthentic" history. the boats, martins-ulmanis vodka drinking together, the artillery etc... well at least there were some points in the movie that i didn't feel like i wanted to run out of the cinema. for instance i liked how the final battle was made and one could see that there was a lot of effort in it, also in the bombing of Riga. but attacking the German cannons with 4 guys(1 of them was an alcoholic, the other one a fireman and one guy was serving in the army earlier in the artillery)? it's just too absurd... what if the Germans accidentally had about 30 guys there at the time? then it would have been kaka for them... and also what was up with the Indiana Jones style fist-fight in the end? can you get any more cliché than that!?(not the mention the hundreds of other of clichés in the movie, like accidentally hitting a German armored vehicle with the first shot without any aiming) but again - in enjoyed the final attack in the movie. it was something that i was waiting a lot in after these horrible non-stop dialogs and sometimes bad montage. the costumes were great, everything seemed authentic for some time :) also the scenes about Riga were well done. i've visited cine ville once and i also really liked how they actually used this small territory so well. but this type of movie might have worked 70-80 years ago in Latvia, but now it just seems pathetic, it seems like a mindless propaganda from the Nazis. even with this kind of money you can always make better movies... we have a lot to learn in the baltics about movies(especially about war movies)

Let me start this review by saying this, this movie had great costumes and the scenes were great. Other then that, the movie was plain awful and painful to watch.When I was a little boy, I learned form the freedom fights of brave Latvian solders form history books and now this movie proves me wrong. Let me say, that I wasn't impressed by the fights between Latvians and the Germans. Other that fact that they were a complete bore, they made me want to throw something at the cinema. It was supposed to be one of the best fights in Latvian history, instead it turned out to be a lucky fight, where Latvians shot men who were retreating. I really felt bad for the Germans.And if you think good cop bad cop movies are common these days, then just think of all the clinches this movie has to offer. We have them all - noble hero, unfaithful wife, goofy, but lovable best friend, coward noblemen. After I saw all this mess, I really wanted to see a Hollywood film. Not to mention that the directing was awful. Character development was just plain awful, and I had no idea, why they are doing the things, that they are doing. I would forgive that, but I couldn't watch close ups for 2 hours.All in all, I think you should watch this movie, but I urge you to forget it, because you will want to.At least the costumes were great.

Of course, the movie wasn't perfect. Movies seldom are. Some special effects weren't as good as in big budget Hollywood blockbusters but they were pretty impressive considering 4 million dollar budget this film had (i think many will wonder how it's possible for 4 million only). Also i liked the fact that the main characters weren't some kind of Rembo who kills everything and everywhere around. It was clearly seen that these guys were ordinary Latvian people who made their own contribution as they could make Latvia happen. Love story (stories) weren't too cheesy also and overall the movie was pretty believable. Of course, as always there will be some who will shout against historical imprecision but in that case if all would be true to the facts, movie would be far from being so close emotionally to viewers. Also i liked the fact that the grand battle wasn't the most emotional moment in this movie and wasn't going on for a half an hour as often in foreign movies. Main emotional moment was the last scene in my opinion. You should see it, Latvians and foreigners too because everybody knows the story behind Troy, King Arthur or Pearl Harbor but this story is unknown to foreign people, story about little nation struggling to keep its newly gained independence after 700 years under foreign rulers.