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| I'm happy with this as my flag! |
It’s a long story as to how and why I came across it, but I’m glad I did. I believe the show deserves your attention as well for it seems one could be forgiven for thinking there is a plan afoot by certain jealous Estonian journalistic types to cultivate a cynical outlook towards Australia, Australians and Estonians in Australia.
Now, I have not done many reviews before (this being my 2nd), but even so, writing about ‘Estraalia’ has been hard to do as it has left me with mixed emotions every time I have watched it. What you read here is my 6th ?, 7th ?, 8th ? draft of what I set out to write about, such was my changing opinion. Truth of the matter is Suspects, if my eesti keel was half decent and I was not relying on the bias translation of my wife who despises the show, I might have an altogether different opinion of the show all over again.
Now, I have not done many reviews before (this being my 2nd), but even so, writing about ‘Estraalia’ has been hard to do as it has left me with mixed emotions every time I have watched it. What you read here is my 6th ?, 7th ?, 8th ? draft of what I set out to write about, such was my changing opinion. Truth of the matter is Suspects, if my eesti keel was half decent and I was not relying on the bias translation of my wife who despises the show, I might have an altogether different opinion of the show all over again.
Any way I look at this program, I liked / hated / enjoyed / yawned at this 3 hour long tale of why Estonians are trying to find a place for themselves for however long, for whatever reason/s. What you take from this show is really left to your own interpretation, so be warned: watch ‘Estraalia’ with an open mind and read (but ignore) my opinion expressed here.
BEFORE YOU START TO WATCH, A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
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| Ken knows about the shade |
‘Estraalia’ is a very lose documentary that was filmed over two weeks in August of 2010 and consists of four episodes; I, II, III, IV (IV is yet to air in Estonia). Each of the episodes is 45 minutes long and is based on the separate stages of an excursion headed by producer Ken Saan (not the one Cold Chisel sang about) and interviewer Krister Kivi.
The title ‘Estraalia’ refers to Estonians in Australia and is an interesting choice which I'll be arrogant enough to say I was jokingly using by the time I had met my wife all of three or so years ago. I used the term 'Estralian' to describe any Estonian associated with Australia; and 'Austonian' to describe any Australian associated with Estonia. I’m not really sure if anyone had already used the terms ‘Estralian’ and ‘Austonian’ before, but when I googled them both, nothing appeared. Fact enough for me.
Anyway, I digress.
The idea of ‘Estraalia’ was to go around Australia interviewing Estonians who live(d) and work(ed) in Australia and supposedly try to get to the bottom of why there has been a steady influx of Estonians heading to Australia and why a lot of them are not planning to return to Estonia any time soon.
“Miks ahvatleb Austraalia eestlasi sellise jõuga, et igal aastal rändavad teisele poole maakera tuhanded Eesti noored, kellest paljud enam kunagi koju ei tule?”
Now I’ll tell you straight from the get-go, (as an Australian-Estonian) if you watch this show there is the strong chance you may end up taking things insinuated and said, personally. It’s highly likely you are going to fall on one side of the fence and not sit on it. You will either be that of an Estonian who has never visited Australia before and knows nothing about the place (the majority of the intended audience back in Estonia) and is viewing this show subjectively from the outside, or; you are going to be either an Estonian and/or an Australian living in Australia viewing this objectively from the inside (the non-intended audience). And no, I haven’t gotten my ‘objectives’ and ‘subjectives’ mixed up.
While watching this show, it’s important to remember that you have to remain un-bias towards it. I mean, if the shoe were on the other foot and I was watching a show with ‘Hamish and Andy’ in it taking the piss out of Aussies in a country I’d never been to, I’d probably have a chuckle. Regardless of this, I am writing this review from the perspective of the later – the case for the ‘objectives’, i.e. not chuckling.
NOW ON WITH THE SHOW:
Well now Suspects, I'm no post-production tech-head, but once the show begins to roll, any dummy could see the start of this documentary had washed out (colourless) images of Estonia set against saturated (over-colored) images of Australia. It's a production trick producers tend to use to subliminally emphasise or highlight a point. In this instance Australia seems alive and Estonia seems dead. It’s an old trick, but one which (especially in this case) has run its course.
The filming is simple and off the cuff. The big fluffy microphone is often caught in the frame and it's lucky no-one broke a nose filming while on the move. If it did achieve anything, it showed that for an Australian, any foreigner can shoot footage of Australia, whether the outback or the city, and instantly an Australian will know it is Australia.
It may have been more the fault of post-production and the producer but Vaiko Turruste, the Estonian cameraman charged with shooting Australia, seemed to have missed every fantastic aspect this country has to offer, and managed to shoot just about every back street, dust bowl and crappy kitchen he was told to shoot. To his credit when the camera stopped in a planned location, there were one or two truly nice frames, particularly that of regional Australia. That’s fine for an Australian who’s seen it all before, but for an Estonian sitting in their apartment in Lasname, it hardly inspires. Needless to say, this series won’t be getting any funding from the Board of Tourism in Australia.
Similarly - but with the benefit most of us have of having been to Estonia - it showed how easy it is to shoot a wet, grey, dilapidated Estonia with its track-suit clad poor and quirky old. I found these cheap shots unfair because I choose to view the Estonia I know in a far more positive light - rain, hail, snow or shine. A fine example being Tallinn named ‘Best City for Winter 2011’ by BBC Travel with Lonely Plane. How come images like this did not show up as a comparison to Australia in 'Estraalia'?
When discussing the camera work in 'Estraalia' with an Estonian woman recently, she tried to point out to me “The show isn’t about Australia. It’s about Estonians.” I thought, well no dear, it’s about both. As reflected in the title. If it didn’t involve Australia, the show would have simply been called 'Estonia' and they (the Estonians and the crew that followed them) would not have bothered to get on a plane and come here in the first place, would they? If it was not about Australia, why are so many choosing to stay?
It may have been more the fault of post-production and the producer but Vaiko Turruste, the Estonian cameraman charged with shooting Australia, seemed to have missed every fantastic aspect this country has to offer, and managed to shoot just about every back street, dust bowl and crappy kitchen he was told to shoot. To his credit when the camera stopped in a planned location, there were one or two truly nice frames, particularly that of regional Australia. That’s fine for an Australian who’s seen it all before, but for an Estonian sitting in their apartment in Lasname, it hardly inspires. Needless to say, this series won’t be getting any funding from the Board of Tourism in Australia.
Similarly - but with the benefit most of us have of having been to Estonia - it showed how easy it is to shoot a wet, grey, dilapidated Estonia with its track-suit clad poor and quirky old. I found these cheap shots unfair because I choose to view the Estonia I know in a far more positive light - rain, hail, snow or shine. A fine example being Tallinn named ‘Best City for Winter 2011’ by BBC Travel with Lonely Plane. How come images like this did not show up as a comparison to Australia in 'Estraalia'?
When discussing the camera work in 'Estraalia' with an Estonian woman recently, she tried to point out to me “The show isn’t about Australia. It’s about Estonians.” I thought, well no dear, it’s about both. As reflected in the title. If it didn’t involve Australia, the show would have simply been called 'Estonia' and they (the Estonians and the crew that followed them) would not have bothered to get on a plane and come here in the first place, would they? If it was not about Australia, why are so many choosing to stay?
The question was answered by most of the interviewees over the course of the series so far. There were varying opinions on why Estonians were coming to Australia and staying from teenagers to retirees in Eesti Küla in Thirlmere. At any rate, after using every negative sound bite from these interviews to set the mood for the start of the show which was too obvious for my liking, it left no mystery as to which way the production teams argument was going to go. The familiar voice over of Juhan Ulfsak? (only working of voice as there were barely any credits) in apathetic tones made it obvious this was going to be more mocumentary than documentary within the first three minutes, and that it didn't necessarily aim to paint its subjects in a particularly friendly or sympathetic light.
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| Krister training for Oz |
Sadly, at times the show smacked of being stuck inside an immature 16 year old boys head. Sure they were polite and sincere to their subjects’ faces, but the questions asked, the film taken and post editing carried out betrays what they were really thinking. At times I was left waiting for an interviewee to accidentally say “dick” or “poo-poo” and hear the crew break into laughter in the background.
Although some Interviews were arranged with targeted people to give what seemed like a broader picture, interviews were generally conducted on hapless, caught unawares, ill-prepared Estonians and generally in the demographic of 17-20 something. From speaking with some of the interviewees post release of the show (some who had seen the finished product, others not), the fact lengthy interviews were conducted only to be edited down to the useless bits of information worthy of Kroonika was a great disappointment. None of the arranged interviewees I had spoken with were happy with the end result and were left wondering why the crew had bothered turning up in the first place.
One theme Krister did unwittingly begin to develop was based around the success of Estonian women in Australia as opposed to that of Estonian men. The intent of questioning seemed to revolve around “...sure...your married to an Australian and have had a baby, but are you HAPPY living here?”. As an Australian, I couldn’t help but start to feel there was a tad of victimisation and envy creeping into the argument. After all, these women now had the best of both worlds: the family and life-style in a warm country with the benefit of being able to come and go to Estonia as they pleased without a worry in the world about renewing visas or wondering if there was a job to come home to. Something the majority of Estonians (unfortunately) can only emulate.
Another theme that seemed to be pursued but not successfully obtained was that Estonian men were only coming here for the money. True if you look at the lengths they go to get it (money) sticking themselves out in the middle of the country where “You won’t get Australians coming out here” as one cattle-station owner put it. But why Australia then? Why not America? Maybe as journalists, if they pursued the reasons behind this, such as the visas needed to work are easier to obtain, the show might have begun to salvage credibility. But no.
"Ei leia ühtegi austraallast kes siia elama tuleks."
Other interviews seemed to focus on the bad experiences of Estonians in Australia as opposed to the good experiences. What purpose this served I’m not sure. Maybe its aim was to try and alienate Australians as a race of weird people in a weird country, and therefore scare more Estonians off buying a plane ticket here. Who knows – but good luck with that one chaps.
Conversely, some interesting views began to emerge when Estonian men were interviewed, as to why Estonian women weren’t interested in them anymore, and what they thought their chances with Australian women were like. As it turns out, the majority couldn’t answer why they thought Estonian women weren't interested in them, or why they weren’t interested in Australian women. Australian women were too hard to crack and thought too much of themselves! "Ha!" I though. "Maybe I'm more of an Estonian man than I give myself credit for".
Considering most of the men interviewed had bailed on the girlfriends back in Estonia..."to work and make some money"...and while in Australia thought of themselves more-or-less free, it turned out these guys were only interested in other European women, in Australia. That’s a long way to come for a bit of skirt out of your back yard that’s in someone else’s back yard sport!
In the end it’s hard to grasp what the real intention of ‘Estraalia’ is. Is it to try and ask why Estonian women want out of Estonia? Do Estonian women like Australian men in particular? Do Australian men like Estonian women in particular? Is the program suggesting Estonian men should rally and conduct a recognisance mission of Estonian women from Australia, much in the vein of the great ‘Escape from Entebbe’? ? Are Estonian women deserting Estonian men before Estonian men desert them for Australia? Is it all just a race to get to Australia first? Do Estonians want out of Estonia in general?? It’s hard to know what conclusions to draw as the interviews were so long and covered a lot of ground...broadly.
Obscure questions to all of these other questions left me pondering; if Estonians packed all their things and went on the road to find a supposedly better place, would the land that we know as Estonia still be Estonia, or would the place where all the Estonians settle be the new Estonia? I guess this question can be answered by the Israelis, but we should probably stop and ask the Palestinians what they think as well.
And if Namibians all of a sudden started speaking Estonian and forgot their own language, would this make them Estonian? Soooo many questions....
So what now? The fourth episode has already been shot and is still to air in Estonia, so there’s no chance we’d be on that, hurrah! If I were any of the people on the last show, I’d be sitting pretty nervously about now, but then again – any publicity is good publicity.
The ultimate conclusion to be drawn from pretty much all of the interviewees is that given the choice, they would stay in Australia, but always call Estonia home. Have your cake and eat it? Why not! I know that’s how I want it. These are the founding principles of what Western society is based on after all.
What of the crew who came to Australia? I mean, after trying to get to the bottom of what is driving Estonians here, I couldn’t help notice this show was a reflection of travel plans of many Estonian travellers themselves. Was ‘Estraalia’ just an excuse for them to have their own little sojourn down under, or was it a genuine junket? Whatever their excuse, I had to feel a little sorry for them at times after driving through the places they did to get the footage they got. There’s better ways to spend two weeks in Australia.
'Estraalia' is entertaining though after viewing the first three episodes fairly close together, my feeling was the whole series could have been condensed into one two hour show. I felt like I had wasted a little time watching it, but then again, I've wasted far more time on far worse shows in the past - thank you B.B. For the masses back in Estonia, I'm sure it provided something warm to watch on a cold night, and I'm equally sure the masses are waiting with baited breath for the final instalment.
'Estraalia' is entertaining though after viewing the first three episodes fairly close together, my feeling was the whole series could have been condensed into one two hour show. I felt like I had wasted a little time watching it, but then again, I've wasted far more time on far worse shows in the past - thank you B.B. For the masses back in Estonia, I'm sure it provided something warm to watch on a cold night, and I'm equally sure the masses are waiting with baited breath for the final instalment.
I guess the only way I can close on this review for episodes I, II and III is by hypothosising there is always a point in an interview when the interviewee wants to turn the questioning and the camera back on the interviewer and ask a question themselves. Imagining I had been interviewed for "Estraalia' and wanted to ask Ken Saan, Krister Kivi and Vaiko Turruste a question of my own:
“Kui sa saaksid elada Austraalias, siis kas sa elaksid?”
I would be willing to lay down some pretty serious money their answer would be,
“MUIDUGI!”
