Baiga vasara (2000) Reviews

• A tale deserving to be told, but not told well

  pupedis2003-12-26

  Director Ivars Graubas' "Baiga Vasara" (Dangerous Summer) reaches high, but never quite attains its lofty goals. It is technically a great looking movie with a Dolby soundtrack, but is hampered by a weak script, uneven acting, and spotty direction. Part of the problem is that Grauba is never quite sure which story he wants to tell. On the one hand it is a romantic story about a wartime love triangle between Izolde (Inese Caune), a young Baltic German student caught between the powerful Wilhelms Munters (Uldis Dumpis), the real life Latvian Foreign Minister, and Roberts (Arturs Skrastins), a powerless but idealistic radio reporter. On the other hand it is the story of the Latvian nation caught between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. If that wasn't enough, it also adds two subplots. One deals with Munters efforts to steal some overseas Latvian funds. The other deals with the role of journalists in a democratic society and the obstacles that they face. All of these are supposed to compliment each other, but unfortunately merely get in each others way. The screenplay had five co-authors, seldom a good sign. "Vasara" is at its best when it focuses on the journalists. This is mainly due to the performances of Skrastins and, as Roberts reporting partner Karlis, Janis Reinis. They both bring a realism to their roles that takes their characters beyond the mostly two dimensional performances of the other cast members. There is a genuine chemistry between the two. Grauba seems most comfortable when telling the story of what it takes to be a reporter and the obstacles that they have to face. Grauba, who also had a hand at the screenplay, and the writers, Pauls Bankovskis, Gabis, Janis Leja, and Andrejs Ekis have all, in one way or another, actually worked in broadcasting and are intimately familiar with the subject matter. The first rule of writing is write about what you know and, in this case, it shows on the screen. "Vasara " is at its weakest when it tries to tell the story of the Latvian nation. Partly this is due to the performances of the two leading actors, Dumpis as Munters and Uldis Vazdiks as Karlis Ulmanis. Their acting styles reflect the Social Realism style that was popular in the Soviet Union and the fact their craft was developed mostly on theater stages. Their performances lack the emotional depth needed for film. Their characters come across as two dimensional caricatures. This is something that might have worked on the stage where actors have to reach the cheap seats, but on screen it seems unnatural and forced. There has been quite a bit of criticism of the historical accuracy of the film and the roles of Munters and Ulmanis. However, it is important to remember that this is a work of fiction and history is always a matter of interpretation. I cannot vouch for the historical accuracy, but from a historical perspective the film's major weakness is that the historical story simply falls flat and never progresses beyond its two dimensional presentation. I doubt that this was by design. It was due to flawed execution. The other major problem is that history requires scale. You basically have two cinematic choices when dealing with history. You can either choose to tell it as an epic, for example "Lawrence of Arabia," and have a lot of sweeping wide angle shots, and a cast of thousands, to show the overwhelming obstacles and stakes, or you can choose to shoot it tight, for example "The Manchurian Candidate," and concentrate on the emotional and psychological obstacles and stakes. Grauba tried the first approach, settled for the second, but succeeds at neither. Of course, not all of this is Graubas fault. This particular story almost demands an epic approach, but that costs money. Money which Latvian filmmakers simply do not have access to. Then again, scale can be demonstrated in many ways. Grauba, for example, could have used newsreel footage to show the insurmountable odds that the Latvian nation faced. Instead he tries to fake it by shooting tight shots with epic implications. The only place where this stylistic approach seems to work is in the central plot line of the triangle between Izolde, Roberts and Wilhelms. Izolde is torn between her love for Roberts and Wilhelms' offer of security and the chance to escape Latvia for Germany just ahead of the rolling Russian tanks. The only weakness in this portion of the film is that there is very little chemistry between Izolde and Roberts, or even Izolde and Wilhelms. Caune is a good and capable actress, but she seems to be in a tug of war between the stylistic choices of the two actors. Skrastins with his naturalistic approach and Dumpis with his theatrical emoting place Caune in a tough spot. She tries to respond by adopting the style of whichever character she shares the screen with, but never really makes a connection with either. Overall, "Vasara" is not a bad film. Had it concentrated on telling just one of the stories it could have been a great film. It spreads itself too thin and tries to accomplish something which is just slightly beyond its reach, but in doing so it does have its moments of cinematic glory when the screen comes alive with the story of the Latvian people and the hardships that they had to endure during a period of history that seldom is dealt with from a Latvian perspective.

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• a bit underrated movie?

  armands_skutelis2007-03-08

  Well there are things that I want to add to all these comments. In context of Latvian cinematography this movie is not an average movie. Of course acting could be better, plot could be better too but this was a movie someone actually cared to watch. The tale deserved to be told, the 1940s mood was shown quite good and the tragedy of Latvia's people also. I mean, there wasn't any big bloodshed at all but these tanks, Latvian flag going down, patriotic colonel committing suicide and most importantly the last scene said it all. This was nice movie- something fresh, something technically well made. Somehow Latvian movies mostly are made for international cinema festivals, not for the average viewer. But when it's so no one actually cares about Latvian cinema and people who make movies complains that no one watches their pseudo-intellectual masterpieces. This movie was good but not great and European TV producers also have expressed the same views. And it actually showed that people go to see Latvian movies if they see that there is something interesting.

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• Nice movie...

  piglja2003-07-31

  Nice movie, but the end is very unwanted... I hoped to see something more, like how will continue all their life (except Robert's) e.t.c. But I really enjoyed this movie:)

• Love, capital transfers, war and radio

  Dierdre992002-02-06

  Spoiler warning. Most of us, who are not Latvian, do not know much about how Latvia was crushed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. This film is therefore a different World War II story. It follows the days up to the Soviet invasion in June 1940, and seem to assume a Latvian knowledge as the dates are announced one-by-one in a countdown. It does seem very strange to us that (some) people gladly fled to Nazi Germany which was already at war with most of Europe. The Latvian Foreign Minister has German nationality and also an aristocratic Russian wife on good terms with the Soviets. The plot concerns an attempt by Wilhelms Munters, the Latvian Foreign Minister, to steal the entire Latvian national wealth deposited abroad. Is this historically true? The central character is a humble radio announcer, Roberts, who pursues an affair with Izolde, a Germano-Latvian with establishment connections, and thereby frustrates Munters' schemes, in that Izolde lingers in Riga and does not deliver Munters' papers to Germany. It is somewhat surprising that he needs to get papers into Germany so that he can claim deposits with a bank in London. The triumph of Roberts-Izolde over Munters is a classic Hollywood device, but the casual death of Roberts to a Soviet machine gun would not be found in a modern Hollywood film. The period details of radio broadcasting are fun. Certainly a film worth catching if you get the opportunity. The fact that the woman is called Izolde (Isold) is not allegorical - Roberts is no Tristan.

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• Summary

  baiga2001-09-01

  Young filmmakers playing with the canons of the genre - historical melodrama. 1940 - the year of terror in Europe when the independent Latvian nation is also occupied. Love between a Prussian girl and a Latvian radio journalist and its confrontation with the atrocities of World War II politics. A dangerous game leaving an impact on nations and their leaders, the people and their lives. A game where no one ever wins.

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