Abseits vom Leben

The first Estonian feature film after the WW II, "Life in the Citadel" deals pretty much with the same matters as the first German post-WW II film "The killers are among us" (1946). The war ends, Russians arrive as the "liberators" and those who were collaborating with the Nazis are sought out and punished. It's all about guilt and payment, and Soviets are the ones who deal in justice. Everything ends in festive adoration of the new power and Comrade Stalin.

"The Citadel" is a family estate, a microcosm which tries hard to ignore that the world is changing and pretending that come what may, the life and daily routine of a dignified family should move on along the traditional course regardless of war.

It's a warning not to take a neutral standpoint: the Soviets treated neutrals as enemies, even though the propaganda is eager to show that with some gentle help from the Soviet officers, a neutral family soon recognizes their erring ways and ripen to embrace the Communist ideology.

The film is actually more of a filmed play - the action takes place indoors, in a large family house, where the members of the dynasty arrive from here and there - some pro-Soviet, some (the bad guys) pro-Nazi. It sounds more interesting than it is - the film was produced by Soviet team (Lenfilm) and is purest Soviet propaganda, directed to prove to the people of the newly occupied country that Russians have arrived to bring peace, prosperity and, above all, divine justice.

The sarcasm lies in the fact that the Soviet country itself was a vast closed citadel, blind to the changes outside its borders and eager to pretend unbearable happiness and prosperity, when the reality was decisively different.

'Life in the Citadel' is the first Estonian language feature after WWII. The movie was directed by Austrian born director Herbert Rappaport (or Gerbert Moritsevich Rappaport), who emigrated into the Soviet Union in 1936 after working in Austria, Germany, and Hollywood. The shooting started in the summer of 1946 in Tallinn and Leningrad in Lenfilm studios. Besides the cast, most of the creative and technical personal were the employees of Lenfilm, except composer Eugen Klapp and assistant to the second assistant director Andres Särev. The screenplay was written by Russian writer Leonid Trauberg and it was based on August Jakobson's stageplay under the same name.

'Life in the Citadel' was the Soviet Union's attempt to (re)build a film industry in occupied Estonia. It was claimed to be the first artistic (Soviet) Estonian movie upon its release. Although it was the first Soviet Estonian movie, but not the first Estonian movie altogether. The film bears a vulgar propagandistic message and its historical accuracy is at least dubious. There are not so subtle hints that all Estonians were despicable Nazi lovers, or 'disgusting intelligents' (intelligent was a person capable of reason and critical thinking and thus the danger to the Soviet Union). Yet, the film ends in a festive mood because even intelligent bourgeois scientist can grow into a new person who is able to see the bright future under the rule of Stalin.

Technically this movie is not a special achievement, but that might be the fault of scarce resources in the post-war Soviet Union, than the fault of incompetent director or personnel. The acting is unnatural and theatrical, even compared to some Hollywood or European movies at that time. Some of that can be blamed that the film was re-dubbed in 1960 as the original soundtrack got lost,

It has been argued about, if 'Life in the Citadel' is a true Estonian movie at all, but it has an important place in the history of Estonian cinema, mainly because of the great ensemble of actors. If you can detach yourself from the nasty propagandistic message, and just take the movie what it is - a time capsule that emanates the mood of the era - you might be able to witness quite interesting piece of cinematic history.