“The Fencer” – Stays there too long [MOVIE REVIEW]
Mart Avandi as Endel Nelis in “The Fencer.” Courtesy of CFI. “The Fencer,” the overly sincere “based on a true story” film about Endel Nelis, an Estonian fencing master who is forced to flee Leningrad after the war as Stalin ramps up his purge of Estonians, considered enemies of the State because they were drafted by the Nazis in World War II. Arriving in Haapsalou, Estonia, deemed as far away and as safe as possible by his coach and best friend Alexei, Endel has reluctantly taken a teaching post at a local secondary school. Watched over by the apparatchik principal of the school, a jealous petty functionary who is suspicious of why anyone as accomplished and cosmopolitan as the new teacher would choose such a dirty backwater, Endel is blocked at every turn from leading the students in any kind of appropriate sport. Haapsalou is a final outpost for everyone there. Most of the children have lost a family member to the purge and their education is stymied by a lack of books, teachers, and resources. When Endel decides to form a Fencing Club, all of the students turn out. Endel, antipathetic to teaching and children, is able to stimulate their minds and bodies, first with movement…
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