The film tells the relatively unknown story of the non-violent Singing Revolution and its catalytic role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Singing Revolution opens today in San Francisco and San Jose.
I admit I may be a bit biased as these are my peeps, and I was the producer of the film… so for a more objective opinion:
“Imagine the scene in Casablanca in which the French patrons sing La Marseillaise in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you’ve only begun to imagine the force of The Singing Revolution.”
– The New York Times
Or as the late Milton Friedman put it, this film “will unquestionably have the effect of strengthening the belief in freedom on the part of anybody who watches it.”
See www.singingrevolution.com for the trailer and up-to-date show times (U.S. and Canada for now).
The “Singing Revolution” and its role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union is a relatively unknown story in the West. From 1987 – 1991, Estonians defiantly sang national songs forbidden by the Soviet authorities, signed petitions disavowing the legality of the Soviet occupation, and created a line of 2 million Baltic people holding hands from Estonia to Lithuania in protest of the Soviet occupation. During the coup, tens of thousands of Estonians stood as human body shields between the advancing Soviet tanks and the radio and TV stations. In 1988, Estonia was the first country to declare sovereignty from the U.S.S.R., a catalyst for its disintegration. Iceland was the first country to recognize Estonia’s declaration of independence in 1991, and, interestingly, Russia was the second. The U.S. was number 32.
If you can, please forward this to Nordic folk, history buffs, choral groups and freedom fighters you may know…
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