Kalev

It’s Nineties Estonia and people are rallying in the squares. Even though the USSR has not fallen apart yet and Estonia has not gained independence; people are heralding that day with the tricolor flags they hold in their hands. In the midst of this political collapse and chaos, there are people who want to go about their business. Rebound, assist, points, win! Ove Musting's debut Kalev focuses on the team, the last basketball champions of the USSR. A team who become a national pride as people unite around a command and build their identity through sports. In this sports drama based on real events, it’s possible to witness history but it doesn’t always score in terms of emotion.

Gert Kullamäe (Mihkel Kuusk) is a young man who starts training with Kalev and who declares clearly that the team should play in the USSR Basketball League. Coach Jaak Salumets (Mait Malmsten) said, they came up here from the mud league, they worked hard when they were not recognised by anyone, so now why does the country want them to quit? Jaak receives threats and blackmail letters every day, becoming the main target of nationalists. After participating in the competition, the discussions become more heated, people look at them as traitors. Bloody Sunday in Vilnius is a major turning point in the mood of the team. Zalgiris basketball players block the USSR tanks, while Lithuanian Pranas Mickevicius (Andris Keiss) calls to say that they must win now. Meanwhile, the reasons for the collapse of the USSR are visible: poverty, squallor, corruption and a rotten system that is spoiling those who come into contact with it.

The director cannot rise from under the multitude of his characters. Sometimes he focuses on the coach, and sometimes on the daily life of the players, which ultimately gives us only superficial information about each person. He doesn't make enough room for us to understand their emotional states. The fast storytelling tempo transforms Kalev into a basketball game without a time-out.

Gert tries to put shoes on the injured Aivar Kuusma (Reims Sagor) and the scene tries to reflect the team spirit. However, the director struggles to make the relationships between the other members of the team feel organic. The desire to tell all the events from the very beginning means there isn’t time to connect emotionally. Situations witnessed by the athletes as they travel to neglected Soviet cities and sports centres, meanwhile, prove the most entertaining.

Although the events are important to the history of Estonian sports, the director struggles to give them universal resonance. He depicts the whole story in one layer, doing nothing but mirroring historical facts. Kalev turns into a flat film, which simply shows what is happening without touching it. Musting succeeds in establishing the historical context and describing the experiences of the Estonian people. But the impressions we have about each individual of the team are not enough to become fully immersed in their feelings.