Edition: 2010

Selected by the Festival: BEELDVORBEELD DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL ON CULTURE AND REPRESENTATION 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Year of production: 2008

Country of production: Estonia

Production: In-Ruum

Set in: Estonia

Duration: 67'

Film: Color

Directed by: Meelis Muhu

Most Soviet memorials in Estonia have been destroyed after 1991, the year in which this Baltic country regained its independence. However, the „Bronze Soldier”, with his rifle and the chest full of medals, dominates one of the main squares in Tallinn. For the Estonian nationalists, „Alyosha” is the symbol of the bloody Stalinist repression. For the Russian residents of Tallinn, the statue represents one of the few links they still have with “Mother Russia”. Every year, on May 9th, “Victory Day”, they congregate around Alyosha, who becomes a catalyst of the Russian community’s collective memory. Between 2005 and 2007 the author followed thoroughly the conflict around the soviet bronze soldier.