The Ideal Landscape

ESTONIAN FILM

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The Ideal Landscape (1980)

CLASSICS

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ESTONIAN FILM

What You

REAP SOW

is what You

There’s probably no film country in the world where the audience and the critics wouldn’t get that nagging feeling, every now and then that the old legends have somewhat dozed off, and yet the new guard has not arrived.

Seemingly everything is present, but intuition tells you to wait for some new energy, a new wave. The same goes for Estonian cinema.

By Kristiina Davidjants Photos by Estonian Film Institute & Film Archive of the National Archives of Estonia

Photo by MIkk Raude

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stonian film began side by side with the rest of the world, but was subjected to the will of the cinema officials and ideologists of Moscow later on, so that Estonian film encompasses more diversity than it seems at first glance. Here we find pre-war glamour and adventure, as well as post-war hollow Stalinist propaganda. Khrushchev's thaw enabled films with a more liberated, poetic language, and also straightforward thrills and action, which took Estonia to the universe of pan-Soviet megahits, garnering millions in viewers and currency.

It is only fair to say that Estonian film wasn’t so badly off by the latter half of the 1970s, but still something was missing. It is also quite safe to claim that the pulse of cinema beats in sync with the rhythm of the state and the society. By the end of the 1970s, this form of art, or some might say entertainment, appeared as stagnant as the country where it should have prospered. On the other hand, it is known that the biggest calm comes before the storm, and the purveyors of the storm in the Estonian conditions were the young grad-

uates of the Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, who stormed the homeland with their recently acquired cinematic knowledge and started making films. Each of them had their own style, but it’s pretty clear that from very early on, the most distinguished of them all proved to be the young director Peeter Simm (born 1953).

THE RISE OF THE NEW TALENT

Simm attracts attention with his graduation work Tattoo (1977). Here it is already evident what kind of a director Simm will turn out to be. Simm’s direction is driven by warm humour and empathy. The tragicomic story about a young man who has fallen in love with a Roma girl, has all the elements that came to characterize his own distinctive style later on in his feature films. Colourful characters move around as if they were in a retro-kaleidoscope, trebly vinyl playing in the background. The protagonist is played by rookie actor Arvo Kukumägi. Simm reminisces that the film’s supervisor Andrey Tarkovsky lambasted his main casting choice as soon as he saw Kukumägi’s photo.

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Tattoo was shot in a remarkably sensitive way, by another Estonian graduate of Moscow, cinematographer Arvo Iho. A few years later, 27-year-old Simm emerges as the brightest star of the decade, with his feature film debut, based on Karl Helemäe’s story The Deputy of Spring Sowing. The 30-Day Chronicle of a Young Man’s Life. The 1980 feature film is christened The Ideal Landscape.

The film is set in Estonia after World War II. Mait Kukemeri (Arvo Kukumägi), fresh-faced activist of the Young Communist League (Comsomol) arrives to Metsa collective farm in the back of a truck. As a Deputy of Spring Sowing, he has to tell the local country folk to go and work in the field, even when spring water comes in over the boot top and machines get stuck in the mud.

Harald Tuvikene, the chairman of the collective farm, promises everything by tomorrow, pitching his peasant wisdom against the senseless demands of centralised power. For the first time in his life, Kukemeri faces real problems. Despite the task put upon him by the party, the youngster’s attention is drawn more and more to a local pioneer guide. Nobody is willing to sow before the right time, and Kukemeri gets stuck in an ever-expanding web of lies to the regional authorities.

Tallinnfilm archives offer the director’s vision of his film’s protagonist. “Football fan deputy of spring sowing, young communist Mait Kukemeri is an object of attention in every scene. The audience should not be drawn to his uttermost nobility and positivity, but lifelike believability and contradictions,” says Simm.

Arvo Kukumägi’s idealistic deputy Mait Kukemeri is contradictory indeed, especially in a rapidly escalating situation where it becomes clear that the young deputy’s slogans and theoretical knowledge is one thing, the practical skills of the local people another, and the unrealistic demands of the bosses yet another matter.

WAR YEARS IN THE FILM

The 1980s are not the dangerous times any longer, when dealing with uncomfortable themes could bring harsh punishment. Yes, a certain caution was necessary, but temporal distance already allowed a more liberal depiction of topics that had been deemed too

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The events on The Ideal Landscape take place during the difficult times in the beginning of 1950s.

Pioneer guide Liina (Reet Paavel), the chairman of the collective farm Tuvike (Tõnu Kark) and the young pioneers.

complicated before. So, Simm’s return to the war years comes as no surprise. These are the times that have seemingly been covered by older colleagues, but more closely scrutinized by the younger generation only since the beginning of the eighties.

One aspect of it was an instinctive drive to rediscover one’s own childhood, but not only that. A theme that had so far been largely pushed underground in Estonian cinema, starts to rear its head – a dark legacy of the post-war Baltics, the 'forest brothers' (Estonian partisans). Now there is enough courage to make films about a conflict between those who tried to continue living their lives in a perpetually altered reality, and those who couldn’t acknowledge the present and hid themselves in the woods, becoming the half-mythical forest brothers in the process. Young filmmakers wanted to explore this in depth, remaining as truthful as possible under the circumstances of the period.

They picked complex themes and wove the pre-war and post-war memories into the narrative form acquired in film school, creating a unique storytelling niche on the cinematic landscape of the day.

Simm’s film tackles all the taboos of the Stalinist period, trying to remain true to the heroes of the time, but using their generation’s knowledge to give them new meaning.

“In order to get a lot of spring-like lightness and brightness, I exposed the film to light blue, yellow and pink tones before the shoot, and filmed through a light-diffusing filter. The 17th-18th century masters made a monochrome underpainting first, and applied colours on that in thin layers. That’s where I got the idea from”, says cinematographer Arvo Iho, remembering the filming of The Ideal Landscape.1

Photo by MIkk Raude

THE IDEAL LANDSCAPE is a 1980 drama directed by Peeter Simm (born 1953). With a lyrical and innocent hero, this film gives an ironic glimpse of collective farm life in the Stalin era. The film is based on writer Karl Helemäe’s story The Deputy of Spring Sowing. The 30Day Chronicle of a Young Man’s Life.

Arvo Kuku­ mägi (1958 - 2017) por­ trayed the main protagonist Mait Kukemeri in The Ideal Landscape.

Aarne Üksküla as Mihkel Aas, Liina's father in the film. 77

Starring: Arvo Kukumägi, Tõnu Kark, Kalju Komissarov Music by: Erkki-Sven Tüür Cinematography: Arvo Iho Running time: 85 minutes Country: Soviet Union Language: Estonian, German

The texture of the film is unconventionally sensitive for its time, emphasized by the lyrical atmosphere. There is a tangible nostalgia for a time and space that the filmmakers themselves had not experienced, but pieced together from the memories of parents and grandparents, becoming a longing for something that only exists in the imagination of the interpreters.

We see a picturesque, crumbling retro-world, hear the songs of Zarah Leander, mixed with the work of Dmitry Shostakovich, a man significant in his time. In The Ideal Landscape, youthful exuberance meets rural experience. The people here are simultaneously optimistic and realistic, living in fear’s shadow. The war is over, Stalin’s cult of personality is omnipresent, and yesterday’s friends have become today’s enemies in the woods.

The main character of the film, Mait Kukemeri, is also afraid. He has been given orders to sow the grain but despite his noble-ish intentions, he has to abandon

Iho, A. (2012). Mina ja film. Akadeemia, no 9, p. 1635-1648.

“Miks te seda hullumeelsust ei peatanud?” Tiit Tuumalu’s interview with Peeter Simm. Postimees 22. X 2008.

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Photo by MIkk Raude

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Why did you not stop this madness. A young man’s fate is ruined now! his ideals soon after, and use the precious few primitive manipulation skills he has been able to accumulate during his short life. By the end of the film, he too learns to differentiate between different shades and hues, but unfortunately at the cost of human relationships.

“Quite a few crucial turns in The Ideal Landscape were improvised. Our method back in the day was to establish the movement plan and most certainly film the first take. Some of the improvised text bits had been previously agreed upon, without the partner’s knowledge, others came during the takes,” says Peeter Simm in an interview given in 2008.2 The ensemble of The Ideal Landscape plays really well together indeed, but special mention goes to the man opposite Arvo Kukumägi, today’s legend of Estonian cinema, Tõnu Kark, taking his first steps on the big screen. He is the chairman of the collective farm, who has to wrestle with the young maximalist, having to tap into all of his resources of simple rural wisdom to do that. Reet Paavel turns in a charming role as a pioneer guide, Mait Kukemeri’s object of desire.

i Trapido y Is ob t o

Colleagues’ response to the film was unanimous, characterized vividly by Kaljo Kiisk, Estonian veteran director, at a Tallinnfilm Artistic Committee meeting: “I haven’t seen such a poetic recounting of a definite era in our cinema yet. Having survived this period at roughly the same age as the characters of the film, I can say that the film really goes to the heart.

Watching it made me realize, how important it is to

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Peeter Simm has proved him­ self to be one of the most di­ verse Estonian film directors throughout five decades.

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REACTIONS TO FILM

Reet Paavel (as Liina) and Arvo Kukumägi (as Kukemeri) on the set of The Ideal Landscape.

have a look back at those times. Peeter Simm and his fully-fledged co-author Arvo Iho have said their word. /-/ Locations are good, noises, sounds, music – everything fits. Very interesting and completely original camerawork. The light penetrating the grimy world is sombre, but good. Peeter Simm has a heightened sense of the figurative.”

A thousand kilometres to the East, the reactions were unfortunately quite different. “Why did you not stop this madness. A young man’s fate is ruined now!” yelled the Moscow officials at the first viewing of the film. It is one thing to finish a film in Estonia, supported by friends and allies, but trying to get it approved for a Soviet-wide distribution permit in Moscow was something completely different. Peeter Simm has reminisced about these most tense moments of his creative career in his biography: “Initially, the film had another finale. We saw the same spots, previously filled with human passion and warmth, in a completely different season – everything was frozen and lifeless, with the country children playing. We received such a berating in Moscow that I thought we’d be sent to Siberia. The screening went by in dead silence. The head editor of Goskino asked: “Do you think we are blind? The kids were wearing nylon jackets in the end. Do you think we don’t

3 Tallinnfilm Artistic Board meeting, 29. XII 1980. The screening and discussion of “The Ideal Landscape”.

4,5 Peeter Simm. Eesti filmi partisan. Evelin Kivimaa 2011, Menu.

6 Plahhov, Andrei. Wistful Youth. Translated from the magazine “Iskusstvo kino”, no. 1, 1983]/ translated by Ene Paaver. 1983, 12, 26-29, ill.

understand that you are talking about the modern day?" Peeter Simm remembers how it was implied to the Estonians to get the hell out of there. “It was 1980, not Stalin’s era any longer, so we weren’t crammed into cattle wagons right away, but I have never been so afraid in my life. I was certain that’s it – I have to find a new occupation. No joke, our discussion was dead serious, but youth’s boldness is matched with their elders’ experience – Enn Rekkor, Tallinnfilm’s editor-in-chief initiated a new attempt about a month and a half later.”

Simm continues: “We killed the initial ending, maybe that was too much indeed. The new attempt was a complete miracle. We had a much higher judge this time, the assistant to the chairman of Goskino, Pavljonok, who was a friend of Karl Helemäe, the author of the original novella. We started watching the

film. Silence. Now and then, the old Belorussian partisan Pavljonok, uttered words of praise: “See, that’s how you make a mise-en-scene!” Finally, when the lights were turned on in the screening hall, he kissed me on the mouth with his big Slavic spirit.”

Maybe The Ideal Landscape is perceived better abroad, where the gaze is sharper. A renowned Russian film critic Andrei Plakhov describes the film’s central idea: “We stand face to face with the need to give philosophical meaning to our recent past; to connect the social existence and national character with the myth of the Universe – and that leads us back to the source of nationality eventually”. He adds, as if looking to the future: “Wisdom and spiritual youth combined in every single person is a guarantee for him to walk in step with the times, without losing the connection between different eras”. EF

Scenes from The Ideal Land­ scape.

The epic scene from The Ideal Landscape with the legends of the Estonian cinema: Arvo Kukumägi (on the left) and Tõnu Kark .

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