Darkness in Tallinn

The makers themselves describe their film as a ‘Spaghetti Eastern’. That indicates that their budget was limited, thatthey adopted a light-hearted approach to the genre film (in this case more of a thriller than a western) and that they certainly didn’t want to bore their audience.The location is Estonia, which has only just gained its independent. The national gold reserve, stored outside the country since World War Two, is brought back under the watchful eyes of the media and an enthusiastic population. A bunch of almost caricatural, but no less cruel, gangsters prepares to steal the Estonian treasure. They force the electrician Toivo to help them turn off the lights throughout Tallinn, so they can carry out their raid in the dark. Toivo is poor and his wife Maria is about to give birth to their first child. He could use some more money and appears to give in. But as the story progresses, he turns into a real hero with the aid of the boy next-door.Darkness in Tallinn was made with great nerve and has daring changes of tone and mood. The story – sometimes almost comic¬strip – is effectively told against an authentic background. The makers have made the best possible use of their location; it looks as if the whole of Estonia was mobilised for the film.