1944

1944 (2015) is an Estonian war drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Elmo Nüganen takes a few brutal months of that year, when the front line cut straight across Estonia — from the fighting at the Blue Hills to the battle for the Sõrve Peninsula.

The worst of it is plain: Estonians shooting Estonians. Some wore the uniform of the 20th Waffen-SS division, others served in the Red Army's 8th Estonian Rifle Corps. Ideology barely enters into it; most just chose a side because they had to. The camera follows soldiers from both armies, Karl Tammik and Jüri Jõgi, and the families left waiting at home. The real border runs through households, not maps.

Nüganen films combat as mud, sprinting and sudden death, stripped of heroic swagger. There are no clear villains here, which is rare for a Second World War picture. If you want honest cinema about a small nation caught between two armies, this earns your time. Stream 1944 (2015) online on iFILM.