There aren’t many films set during an era of Soviet repression that qualify as feel-good, heart-tugging sports films in the “Hoosiers” vein, but “The Fencer,” the true story of a top foil artist who eludes Soviet agents by hiding out in a small town and teaching kids fencing, is that kind of winner.
Entirely filmed in Estonia, mostly in the town of Haapsalu, where the real events happened, “The Fencer” was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign-language film. Yet when all major distributors passed on the film for an American release, the California Film Institute — the folks based in San Rafael that bring you the Mill Valley Film Festival each October — selected it as only their second film to get distribution under their CFI Releasing banner.
And the tale of Endel Nelis (Mart Avandi) is indeed irresistible. Estonia was occupied by both Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II, and Endel Keller — his original name — was forced to fight in the German Army. After the war, Estonia became part of the Iron Curtain after the Allies and Soviets divided up Europe. Endel changed his last name to Nelis and became a top Soviet fencer.
Trouble is, anyone who fought for the Germans was sent to a re-education camp (read: labor camp in Siberia), so Endel, whose past is eventually discovered by the Soviets, flees to the small town of Haapsalu, where he is put in charge of a school’s sports club.
As the sports club has no sports equipment — no soccer balls or skis, only a pommel horse and a rusting set of weights — Endel is forced to improvise: He makes fencing sticks out of twigs, and his kids — ranging from ages from kindergarten to early high school, take to it like a house on fire.
For the children, it is the most fun they’ve had in years. Fencing is a way for them to become disciplined and to discover things about themselves, plus it’s a handy way to work out aggression. Most of them have no fathers — Estonia lost about 25 percent of its population during the war, many of them men in battle and through exile — so Endel also becomes their father figure.
When students push him to enter a school tournament in Leningrad, Endel has to decide between disappointing his children or putting his own safety at risk.
“The Fencer,” directed by Klaus Haro, is basically a “Hoosiers” remake — a true story set in a 1950s small town, in which a coach with a mysterious past arrives to shape a rag-tag bunch of kids into tournament contenders (there’s even a half-hearted romance that seems thrown in at the last minute in both films) — but that’s OK. It’s a winner here, too.
Endel Nelis became a real-life sports hero in Estonia, and the sports club he started still exists today. Touche.
MOVIE REVIEW
“The Fencer”
Grade: B
Starring Mart Avandi, Ursula Ratasepp and Hendrik Toompere Sr. Directed by Klaus Haro. In Estonian, Russian and Armenian with subtitles.
Unrated. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 39 minutes.
Bottom line: The true story is irresistible
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