THE LITTLE COMRADE

SELTSIMEES LAPS

By Moonika SIIMETS

VOSTAO - as CONS

Historical - Completed 2018

Six-year-old Leelo’s mother is sent to a prison camp in the midst of Stalinist repressions. The little girl is haunted by her mother’s last words to be a good kid, and strives to be on her best behaviour in the confusing and contradictory grown-up world, believing this will bring her mother back.

    • Year of production
    • 2018
    • Genres
    • Historical, Drama, Family
    • Countries
    • ESTONIA
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 100 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Moonika SIIMETS
    • Writer(s)
    • Moonika SIIMETS
    • Producer(s)
    • Riina SILDOS (AMRION OÜ)
    • Synopsis
    • It is 1950 in the Soviet Estonia and the Stalinist terror machine works at full steam – 6-year-old Leelo’s school principal mother is arrested before her very eyes. “If you’re a good kid, I’ll be back soon,” are her mother’s last words as she is taken away at gunpoint.
      So Leelo is on her very best behaviour, but yet her mother does not return. A fear creeps into the child’s soul that it is her fault her mother was taken. The confusion only grows as “good” and “bad” no longer seem to hold any meaning in these troubled times. Why is the Estonian flag suddenly forbidden? Who is the people’s enemy and why is the scary NKVD lurking around their home? Is it an honour or a shame to be a pioneer? In this odd two-faced world, Leelo tries her best to be good, but is instead embroiled in one scrape after another and becomes ever more confused as to what it even means to be a good kid.