SYNOPSICS
Head käed (2001) is a Estonian,Latvian,Russian movie. Peeter Simm has directed this movie. Rezija Kalnina,Lembit Ulfsak,Tõnu Kark,Tiit Sukk are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Head käed (2001) is considered one of the best Comedy,Drama movie in India and around the world.
The Estonians and Latvians join hands in this jointly produced Baltic comedy about love and theft centering on light-fingered Margita. Everything and anything that hasn't been nailed to the spot winds up in her possession - whether it's a wallet belonging to a passer-by or a Jeep. But the police are on to her and the streets of Riga are becoming just a little too dangerous for Margita these days (played by rising Latvian star Rezija Kalninca). She decides to break camp and hitchhike her way up north coming to rest at a little place called Vineeri in Estonia, where she soon finds herself looking after an entire household, including three men and a small boy. When one of them turns out to be a police officer, seductive Margita solves the problem by becoming his lover. Before long the men begin to get suspicious: apparently there's a thief in the house. And so before Margita has the opportunity to be a mother to the boy, a wife to the policeman, and a daughter to the two old codgers, she...
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Head käed (2001) Reviews
Almost there
Labas Rokas (Good Hands), the Estonian and Latvian co-production directed by Peeter Simm, is filled with characters and character, sadness and humor. There's Margita (Rezija Kalnina), a two-bit thief who along with her sister will steal anything that isn't nailed down. There's Adolf (Lembit Ulfsak), an engineer in a dying industrial town that no longer needs his skills, and his best friend, Dr. Lepik (Tonu Kark), who performs dental surgery on himself with the help of a mirror but without the benefit of anesthetic. There's Arnold (Tiit Sukk), Adolf's son, the town's policeman whose primary job seems to be to ticket his father each time he catches him speeding. And then there's Pavo (Atis Tenbergs), a caustic and jaded 8-year-old who seems to be going on 80. All of their lives become entwined when Margita, after stealing a car with her sister in Jurmala, gets into an accident and has to flee across the border into Estonia. She reaches the outskirts of the town of Vineeri (Plywood), named after a now non-functioning and shuttered plywood factory, and attempts to steal Adolf's car while he is taking a swim in a river. As she is trying to get away she notices that Adolf still hasn't come up for air. Thinking that he is drowning she jumps out of the car and tries to save his life, much to Adolf's disappointment and surprise. Eventually they end up back in Adolf's house. When Margita finds out about Arnold the cop, who shares his father's house, she realizes that hiding in the house of a policeman might be the best way to wait for the heat to blow over. What ensues is an exploration of character and relationships. Simm weaves a simple story that is brought to life by wonderful performances from his cast. Rezija Kalnina is almost perfect as a seemingly amoral thief with no loyalty to anyone or anything, but who once literally walked on glass to prove her love. Lembit Ulfsak and Tonu Kark are perfect as a the quarrelsome and quirky odd couple who have long ago learned to accept each other despite their differences. Tiit Sukk, like Kalnina, is good as the lonely and morose cop, but at times seems a bit too wooden in his performance. The true standout of the cast, however, is young Atis Tenbergs. When his real mother (Maija Apine) is admitted to the hospital, he adopts Margita as his surrogate mother and mentor. Its not a novel cinematic device, but Tenbergs pulls it off perfectly as a child in a world of mixed-up and often childish adults who has to be both a child an and adult. Lab?s rokas is also an interesting exploration of the two different national characters of Estonians and Latvians and how they perceive each other. Too often the Baltics are seen as a single entity where the people are indistinguishable from each other outside of their languages and borders. The rest of the world might perceive them as "the Baltics," but they can be as different from each other as night and day. As Pavo's mother explains to Margita, she loves the town of Vineeri and its people but she is desperate for a conversation with a fellow Latvian. The locals never seem to go beyond hello and goodbye. On the other hand, the locals perceive the Latvians as "chatty" and "aggressive" and while in public seem remote and cold, on an individual level speak to each other about topics and in an intimacy that most of us are incapable of. At the heart of it Lab?s rokas is about individual choices -- and living with those choices -- as well as loyalty. It is a wonderfully quirky film about wonderfully quirky people who have learned to accept and live with each other. The film has won a few awards on the European film circuit and the Latvian "Lielais Kristaps" for best film. It deserves a broader audience.
No love or life for Margita
I'm not very familiar with Estonian or Latvian culture but I think this film gave some insight in how the Ests and Lats see each other. I even couldn't tell the different languages from each other, so when the dentist discovers that the girl couldn't have understood a word of what he was telling her the past couple of minutes (because she is Latvian and he's speaking Estonian, but she didn't tell him) it was as big a surprise for me as it must have been for him. The Plot Summary is not completely correct: As far as I could tell, Margita doesn't just seduce the policeman for her safety, she is really attracted to him. And even before they start their relationship the policeman has found out about her recent criminal past - but he is already too much in love (understandably) to bother. The other two men she's started caring for/about also seem to be happy to live with the fact that things have started disappearing since her arrival. The end is not a happy one (which makes this movie just that stronger) The pieces of the cruel puzzle of here life come together and we see what, or rather who, is 'driving' her.