| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 24, 2011

| Original Score: B | Oct 18, 2008

Full of the kind of collective passion and struggle and yearning for freedom that makes viewers well up with pride at their shared humanity.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 3, 2008

This fine and surprising documentary asks an even more challenging question: Can music promote nonviolence, prevent bloodshed and successfully overthrow an oppressive regime? Again -- astonishingly -- the answer is 'yes.'

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 20, 2008

The thrill of this documentary is in the remarkable story of the Little Country That Could.

| May 30, 2008

As far as the plot goes, widespread lack of familiarity with Estonia's recent history actually works in the film's favor: Suspense born of ignorance lends the unfolding drama the urgency of a political thriller.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 22, 2008

Patience may not the most exciting movie subject, but The Singing Revolution is, in its deceptively mild way, inspiring.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 25, 2008

It's a powerful story of a nation that, almost literally, sang its way to freedom.

| Apr 17, 2008

What makes the film unique is its intermittent focus on one of the country's cultural touchstones: a song festival called Laulupidu, and its role in bringing freedom to a repressed but restless people after a half-century.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 4, 2008

An emotionally and dramatically satisfying narrative.

Full Review | Dec 20, 2007

Provides an uplifting depiction of vitally important political ends achieved via nonviolent means.

Full Review | Dec 19, 2007

The first feature doc by James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty is a formulaic affair (plenty of talking heads and archival footage), but its story is an uplifting one befitting the holiday spirit.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 14, 2007

Directors James and Maureen Tusty acknowledge that few outsiders care much about this tiny Baltic nation. And then, through a mix of moving interviews and affecting footage, they show us why we should.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 14, 2007

Can singing change history? The Singing Revolution, a documentary by James Tusty and Maureen Castle Tusty about Estonia's struggle to end Soviet occupation, shows that it already has.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Dec 14, 2007

Singing Revolution eloquently illustrates that, once granted, even a smidgen of freedom can transform into an unstoppable weapon against oppression.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 13, 2007

A wonderful exploration of that still little-understood period, from the mid-1980s through 1991, when the empire of Soviet communism rapidly collapsed.

Full Review | Dec 13, 2007

One incredible tale: As independence gains a foothold, a crowd of USSR-loyal reactionaries storms the capitol building in Tallinn. The trapped officials...radio an S.O.S. to the Estonian public -- and the People actually show up.

Full Review | Dec 11, 2007

The Singing Revolution might ignite history buffs, but for musicphiles, it's unfortunately a one-note symphony.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 7, 2007