The Fencer
Based on true events, The Fencer follows the story of Endel Nelis, who leaves Leningrad to return to his homeland of Estonia for fear of persecution following the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War. Fleeing the Soviet secret police, he settles in the town of Haapsalu to work as a teacher. However, he draws attention to himself and his complicated past through his background in fencing, which he begins to teach to his students despite the school principal’s denouncement of the sport as being ill-suited to the proletarian “working man.” Accordingly, Nelis begins to face a difficult choice between self-preservation and the bonds he has forged with his students.
