Beauty of the Fatherland

We see the eternally singing woods and watch picturesque squares where people fanatically perform folk dances. This is the Estonia from a traditional history book and the starting point of this documentary, that bears the motto ‘men wage war, women create beauty’. We meet two women that create beauty. The first lives in her grandfather’s spirit, a famous nationalist politician. For example, she sells her soul to the scout movement and moulds her brownies into respectable citizens and obliging keepers of hearth and home. The second creator of beauty once was a celebrated fashion model. Now, she organises Miss Estonia and mini-Miss elections. She coaches her protégés just as passionately as the akela does hers. We see both women at work, relaxing at home and answering identical questions. This juxtaposition is an invitation to look for similarities between the very different role models. These are obvious. Still, what really makes BEAUTY OF THE FATHERLAND fascinating are the two women’s pupils. Desperately smiling, helplessly looking around or thrown into utter confusion, they let themselves be squeezed in a Blut und Boden straitjacket or an American glamour & glitter corset. Their lack of cultural poise becomes painfully clear in the extended scenes in which children, trained silly, behave like model adults and superstars. This is sheer horror.