The way the threads come together is involving: the initial threat to the main character's safety should he be discovered by the powers-that-be in Leningrad, the way that his connection grows to the children - many fatherless and generally lacking a sense of self-worth - who join his fencing club, the children's own improving skills, and the collision course that sets him on with his past. And there's also an effective indictment of the spirit-crushing nature of Stalinist ideology - it's set in the early 1950s, variously in occupied Estonia and Russia - in its denial of not only specific activities and forms of expression but more generally aspects of individuality. Plus there's a 'sporting underdogs take on much better resourced and arrogant champions' plot that develops towards the end. All in all, a pretty lovely film.
(w/ Sara - a callback to our own fencing days a few years back)
(w/ Sara - a callback to our own fencing days a few years back)
