fiji3003
I noticed another reviewer saw this movie in Germany. So did I. I was on vacation and was interested in checking out what was playing in English. Therefore, I had no expectations walking into "Baltic Storm". (I had never heard of the true life tragedy.) But the names (particularly Donald Sutherland's) made it intriguing. So was the movie. It gripped me from the very beginning, as it set the stage for what was to come: two hours of tension mixed with heartbreak as two ordinary people (Greta Scacchi and Jurgen Prochnow) doggedly searched for the truth amidst of world that lies as a matter of course. Even if it's for the so-called 'greater good'. Even if it means that almost a thousand people had to die. Everyone interested in what's really going on in the world should see this movie.
twink2815
On a vacation in Germany, we went to the Sony Center in Berlin and caught a screening of "Baltic Storm" in the original English version. I had only vaguely remembered the sinking of the 'Estonia' and was apprehensive that this would be another "Titanic" rip-off. Far from it. This film was the story of the aftermath and an enormous cover-up as to why the ferryboat sank. The story was tense, and had us guessing to till the end. (By the way, how did the filmmakers know about these so-called CIA 'black prisons'in Eastern Europe back in 2003?) Jurgen Prochnow (from "Das Boot" and Greta Scacchi ("Cotton Mary") and Donald Sutherland (from just about everything) were incredible. Awesome movie.
Clossius
As has often been remarked, on one level this is a genuinely rotten movie - story, filming, etc. Many of the German actors are really good, but hardly in this flick. However, the movie is a "good thing" because it legitimately raises the point of the "Estonia" disaster - which after all has never been satisfactorily cleared up. The movie is banned in Sweden, and that alone makes it worth watching. (Imagine a movie on an US catastrophe that would be banned in the US because it implies government involvement - such as "JFK"!) We do not know what caused the sinking of the "Estonia", but we do know it was not an accident as reported, and it is not exactly far-fetched to surmise that the Swedish government is implicated, at the very least, in the hush-up of whatever caused it. It's good that this movie reminds the audience of that. The comments on this site that such a movie shouldn't have been made because that would capitalize on the victims and their relatives is outright bizarre - if anything, this movie, rotten as it is, is one of the few monuments for the victims; not adequate, but still.
www4321
In 1994, the passenger ferry "Estonia" sank in the waters of the North Sea on a journey from Tallin, Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden. The disaster was quickly ruled to be the result of natural causes. However, a German journalist spent the next ten years investigating the tragedy, and came up with evidence that the ship was carrying arms and contraband from the remains of the former USSR to the black market in Stockholm. The movie chronicles this reporter's quest for the truth. Greta Scacchi brings heart and guts to her performance as the journalist, and Jurgen Prochnow delivers a poignant portrayal of a survivor of the tragedy united with the reporter as they search for answers. Donald Sutherland plays a mysterious puppeteer who perhaps has all the answers. The film is tense, emotional, beautifully shot -- a gripping political thriller.
AD
