Candles in the Dark (1993 TV Movie) User Reviews

Reclaiming your faith takes courage.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 8 November 2023]

A hard film to get into because of the darkness and setting, dealing with an American teenage girl (Alyssa Milano) who goes to stay with an aunt she's never met in the Soviet Union territory of Estonia (now its own country) and becomes involved in religious struggles with those who believe and those who strive to deny that freedom. She falls for the handsome Chad Lowe, becomes close with aunt Natalya Andrejchenko and finds herself being spied upon by Soviet colonel Maximilian Schell. The government is trying to stop a Christmas celebration from taking place so the believers strive to create a crowd that in sheer numbers can't be beat.

The most shocking situation is a scene where an old woman witnesses a Soviet soldier ripping off a religious poster and is thrown to the ground when she tries to stop him. This leads to a riot when townsfolk witnessing the abuse and further stirs up Milano to become involved. Maybe not the most merry of holiday films, but definitely one that shows the determination of celebrating the love of God and the desire for complete freedom. While Milano is good, Andrejchenko is excellent, reminding me of a young Ingrid Bergman. Not one I'd put a star on the too of, but inspirational in other ways.

Candles in the Fart

[rexox · 3/10 · 9 February 2018]

If I had a dollar for every time I laughed out loud during this movie, I would have like... 20 dollars. I'm glad that this film exists, as there aren't many films out there detailing the events of the Soviet occupation of Estonia. However, Candles in the Dark pushes the historical events in the movie to the background, and instead focuses on a set of boring, unrealistic, and sometimes flat out unlikeable characters. The main character, Sylvia, is an entitled typical "American" who is unbearable throughout the entire runtime of the film. Her love interest, Jaan Toome is actually a decent actor, but is fed an absolutely terrible script, which applies to every other character in the movie. The pacing is atrocious, and characters go from being angry with each other to hugging in a matter of seconds. The change is off-putting, and is often hilarious which is sad considering the subject matter of this movie. I did however enjoy the last 10 minutes of this movie. SPOILERS.

The final scene is a quiet moment in which Estonians peacefully enter the dome church for the first time in 50 years, even winning over the Soviet soldiers. Throughout this whole scene hymns are sung in the background and this adds a lot of character to the moment. This sequence symbolized unity among the people of Estonia, even between the natives and Russians, and stands as a landmark in the history of Estonian freedom from Soviet control. However this is still a very weak movie, and I cannot recommend anybody to watch it.

Inspiring

[sarahbelle77 · 8/10 · 24 December 2000]

In hopes of shaping her up, Sylvia (played by Alyssa Milano) is sent to Estonia to live with her aunt. Though happy to see her family, she wants nothing to do with being in Estonia, a place without the luxuries of home, where most people don't even own telephones. However, once she discovers that Estonia is also a place where Christmas is not allowed to be celebrated, churches are closed up, and most people are living in fear, she discovers a passion to reach out and help. Soon after, she finds herself in the middle of a group effort to help Estonians regain the right to celebrate Christmas, following in her father's footsteps, and falling in love with the leader of the rebellion. However, before she can whole-heartily fight for the Estonians, she must first learn to put aside shallow things and realize what is truly important in life. This is a movie of adventure, heroism, courage, hope, love, compassion and danger. If you're looking to be inspired, I highly recommend it!

Almost convincing as a first hand record of the singing revolution in Estonia

[clanciai · 9/10 · 21 May 2022]

Natalya Andreychenko is the great actress here, playing the most interesting character and part, at first protecting her niece by any means from having anything to do with any underground revolution movements and then changing attitude completely as she understands her niece has taken a final stand. The story, the dramaturgy, the direction, the play-acting, everything is excellent and combine in fulfilling the purpose of the film: to give a clear picture of the Estonian singing revolution. There are some precarious tendencies to sentimentality and bathos, but the risks are avoided, and it all ends up in a general harmonisation of the miracle of a singing revolution of just lighting candles and insisting on the human right to celebrate Christmas. In some ways this is a Christmas film for all times, the message is universal, and as Günther Maria Halmer as the priests says, if people have no right of religion, they have no rights at all, and the most stupid thing an autocracy ever can do is to target and make martyrs out of priests, which mistake they always seem to commit, which must turn the whole people against the regime. All the actors are good, the director Maximilian Schell, an old veteran actor, is himself quite convincing as a communist colonel with some sense of realism in spite of all, and he makes the best of a good script and his own good direction, but it's Natalya Andreychenko and Günther Maria Halmer who really make the film.