When Soviet troops invade to suppress the independence movement, barricades are erected in Riga. A bloody struggle begins. The cathedral becomes a place of refuge.
The Latvian director’s graduation film from Moscow Film School does not deliver images loyal to the regime but is a testimony to her journalistic background. When the independence struggle is to be suppressed by military power, the people in Riga erect barricades. Laila Pakalniņa captured the dramatic events whose topicality is frightening.
A piece of the Berlin Wall stands in Riga – as a symbol of the freedom that must still be achieved there. People’s looks waver between hope and uncertainty.
The Wall as a symbol. While the deadly border has already been overcome in Berlin, freedom must still be fought for in other states. A piece of the Wall was sent to Riga in 1990 – as a gesture of solidarity. A short cinematic essay in which people’s looks waver between hope and uncertainty.