Overview
A gripping tale of ambition and sacrifice set against the harsh realities of rural life.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- austere
- melancholic
- oppressive
- quiet evening
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a powerful, universally resonant historical drama that brings Estonian literary themes to an international cinematic scale.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Andres increasingly subordinates his wife, children, friendships, and livelihood to his search for truth and justice.
The marshy, barren farm resists cultivation and intensifies Andres’s conflict with Pearu and his own family.
Andres’s dream depends on raising a son to inherit Robber’s Rise, while the family’s actual circumstances undermine that plan.
Robber’s Rise is framed as a beautiful but desolate expanse whose scale mirrors the family’s struggle.
Films like Truth and Justice, and why
The Emigrants
period rural drama centered on land, family, endurance, and corrosive personal obsession
The Deer Hunter
epic historical family drama about agrarian struggle, social hierarchy, and moral compromise
The Color Purple
literary historical drama using landscape, faith, and family conflict to examine destructive ambition
Days of Heaven
austere period drama about human resilience against unforgiving nature and social forces
Movie Details
- Director
- Tanel Toom
- Release Date
- 2019-02-22
- Runtime
- 165 min
- Rating
- 7.7 / 10 (92)
Cast
- Priit Loog
- Ester Kuntu
- Priit Võigemast
- Maiken Pius
- Simeoni Sundja
- Indrek Sammul
- Marika Vaarik
- Maria Ehrenberg
- Ott Raidmets
- Loora-Eliise Kaarelson
Common questions
- What is Truth and Justice about?
- An austere Estonian rural epic follows a farmer whose dream of mastering the land and securing his family’s future hardens into ruinous obsession.
- What is Truth and Justice like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Truth and Justice as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Truth and Justice violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Truth and Justice as mild.
- What did critics think of Truth and Justice?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a powerful, universally resonant historical drama that brings Estonian literary themes to an international cinematic scale.
- Which films are like Truth and Justice?
- Films with a similar feel include The Emigrants, The Deer Hunter, The Color Purple, and Days of Heaven.
- How long is Truth and Justice?
- Truth and Justice runs 165 minutes.
