Kalev

Eventhough I am not a big sports fan myself by any means, I quite enjoyed watching "Kalev" as it is gripping, touching, sincere and genuine. The political issues of USSR and Estonia in the 90s are deeply rooted in the narrative, which makes this film not just another sports film about following your hopes and dreams. In contrast to other film about sport competitions (where the concentration is usually on the players/one of the players)"Kalev" leads its plot mostly through the point of view of the team's coach Jaak Salumets and manager Riho Soonik - which puts a nice spin on the sports-film genre. The costumes, haircuts and filming locations were true to the 90s era and the colour palette was not overly bright or radiant which rightly reflected the grim atmosphere in Eastern Europe at that time. I also appreciated the fast pace of the whole film and shorter runtime, which was perfect for this type of film. Although I read that some moments are not historically accurate (such as involment of some players and other historical figures), I can still recommend this film.

The film managed to keep a good tempo and stay engaging. Yes, the athletes looked like beer league players at times, but how big is the overlap between actors and basketball players anyway.

It is essentially a feel good drama but it does reflect a historically significant time period and an important achievement in Estonia's sporting history. They try to weave in some of these angles as well as the realities of being a pro basketball player in the Soviet Union (hint: it wasn't the lifestyle Jokic, Embiid and so on enjoy now). Truthfully, I was surprised that Tiit Sokk was presented almost as a bit player when he is perhaps Estonia's greatest basketball player ever.

I did think that a lot of scenes were a bit too instrumentalized, as though it was written by an engineer. Not a ton of subtlety or mystery... every scene seemed to have a pretty explicit purpose. Overall, though, I think people are watching it to learn about or relive this moment of national pride.

The movie has great pace and energy. It flies by and keeps the viewer engaged.

It is emotional, especially for someone who is connected to the country and the era, but not only. The times before Estonia regaining independence in 1991 were difficult and it is shown well in the film, as well as the situation in Lithuania and Latvia.

The movie created the historical accuracy well, using Soviet architecture, clothing, other items. Also, the use of accurate language, Russian, Estonian, English, makes it realistic.

Acting was very good, Mait Malmsten, Priit Võigemast and Reimo Sagor are superb in their roles.

It is interesting how difficult topics are handled, like hatred towards the occupying Russians while one of them is part of the Kalev team or when Estonians show disgust towards the team participating in the Soviet tournament. The Kalev coach said: It is people who play sports, not nationalities. So true, but sadly not as simple as we want it to be.

The movie is of great importance, especially now when Russia is still trying to recreate Soviet Union and is attacking Ukraine.

Overall definitely worth the watch.

I don't really think I related with all the actions in the film, also the political connotations were rather out of date for a modern viewer. At some point you just don't really get involved in what's being shown and what is supposed to be exciting just becomes a little boring.

Probably older men who belong to the generation that were forced to live in the USSR can relate to the narrative and the whole fact of Estonia competing against the giant Russia was considered to be a sort of boost to the national awakening movement, but for a person of a younger generation, it's more like Why am I watching this film.

It's not quite how it was, I remember the times well and this film is a fairy tale version of the events. Also it is not very interesting, what I mean is it tries to be interesting but at the same time it just doesn't start going and drives around in circles without getting anywhere. Most of the actors are ok but you can see that some of them have not the qualifications to be real basketball players. Well I understand that it's a film and they can't use real players, but it still bothers. I watched this with a young nephew and he found it quite boring because these events aren't really interesting to a younger viewer.