Two young men are sneaking in the corridor of the Finnish Parliament; they tear the white sheet from a naked female body and whisper with bathos - "the Prime Minister of Finland is dead!" This is but one of many shocking episodes characterising the most singular phenomenon on the Estonian media landscape - Esto TV.
In the words of their mentor, Andres Maimik, Esto TV, which emerged in 2000, is a team of people with similar views. The team has a varied background: Andres Maimik has an education in film, Rain Tolk has studied philosophy, Ken Saan economy, and Juhan Ulfsak is an actor. One of their first works was a 6-part programme on Estonian Television (state television). Esto TV quickly became scandalous and even hated. The programmes were initially entertaining, containing less sub-text than the later full-length films. The style was investigative journalism and the subject matter, the life of pop stars. Only a coterie of left-wing intellectuals supported Esto TV. Esto-makers do not fancy themselves as artists, nor do they regard their work as art - it is instead a manifestation of punk culture and of surrealism. They have worded their aim metaphorically: "We would like to be a virus that invades the organism of media or power and wreaks havoc there, in order to warn of the looming illness." Regarding themselves as prophets, maybe...

Esto TV had to reckon with the demands of censure of state television. They had to cover the faces of the participants in the film with black dots, and prime time viewing was shifted to late hours. One of the major Esto TV-related scandals occurred before the Eurovision Song Contest held in Estonia in 2002. A popular Swedish TV programme commissioned Esto TV to produce a PR film. Among others, the film introduced Sex-Kristi - a young girl who became famous for her vagina paintings. The Swedes were shocked and demanded censorship.

After being excluded from state television, Esto TV produced their first film in 2002 - Welcome to Estonia, ridiculing the Eurovision Song Contest and the campaign of the Estonian sign/brand. The film may also be regarded as an attack against corruption in Estonian politics and neo-liberalism.

Esto TV's interviewing style is manipulating - at first they ask polite, intelligent questions, but then make a U-turn, and the questions become decidedly weird. The interviewee, however, is trapped and cannot escape... "When an ordinary person asks us to switch off the camera, we oblige; when a politician asks the same, we won't," runs one of the principles of Esto TV.
Examples of the provocative style of Esto TV include, for instance, when the filmmakers attended the election party of the Reform Party, demonstrating a suitcase allegedly containing 10 million dollars. The Party leader was at that time accused of letting the same sum of money vanish from the Bank of Estonia. Today the accusation has been proved unfounded.
There are said to be similarities between Esto TV and Michael Moore, although the first claims never to have heard of Moore when they made their films. In the words of Andres Maimik, Esto TV has the same function as medieval carnivals or court jesters - to show the real face of power via jokes, parody and provocation. The Esto TV team is concerned about the spread of xenophobia, homophobia, intolerance and racism in Estonia. Juhan Ulfsak's bewildering claim that politicians exist so that they can entertain people seems to explain the style of Esto TV perfectly.
2004 saw the completion of the second Esto TV - Vali kord (Choose Order). This was the slogan of the rightist party Res Publica at the 2003 parliamentary elections. Due to homonymy that is typical of the Estonian language, this can be understood in two ways - choose order as such, or choose a strict harsh order. The film focuses on ridiculing the slogan - a group of bohemians-pacifists, for example, are sent to participate in the tough military Erna Raid.
The film has many layers. Superficial impressions can be negative - it is a clear provocation, a revolt against everything denying ethical criteria. A more observant and intellectual viewer, however, soon experiences a joy of recognition and interpretation: the work abounds with sub-texts, references, and intertextual connections on the level of history, cultural history and politics. The most vivid example could be the episode where one of the protagonists paraphrases Martin Luther King's famous speech, "I have a dream..." This rhetoric scheme in the film is adapted to suit the Estonian context. We also see takes of the 1988 Singing Revolution - the positive national mass psychosis of spiritual power, which greatly helped to restore Estonian independence in 1991. These takes are placed next to shots of the same patriotic songs at the 2003 Beer Festival - the latter, almost a week-long popular party, took place at the same Song Festival Grounds where many of the events of the Singing Revolution occurred. In the Soviet era the Song Festival Grounds indeed had a connotation of resistance movement, as this was the venue for our famous song festivals every five years. In that sense the film is tragic, showing the decline of national ideas. This is an analysis of recent Estonian history via contrasts - the liberation euphoria, lofty ideals and idealism of the late 1980s on the one hand, and on the other, the hedonistic mentality of the consumer society of the early 21st century.

Tõnu Viik, rector of the Estonian Institute of Humanities, says: "Choose Order is a political provocation that ridicules the rightist political way of thinking in general. The film drags politicians into its discourse and shows sadistically their vulnerability, exposure, bitterness and futile anger - exactly the same sentiments evoked by the politician's demagogy in an ordinary citizen without power. The semiotic potency of film turns the political power position into its own parody, and the man in power becomes his own caricature."

Journalist Kalle Muuli, however, describes Esto TV's style as rude behaviour, originating in the sense of them always getting away with it. Many representatives of the older generation probably agree, as they were educated in the pre-war Republic of Estonia and their eyes glimmer with tears when they sing the anthem.

What then constitutes the phenomenon of Esto TV, why did it attract so much public attention in Estonia? One reason could be the traditionally restrained nature of our interviewing culture, respect for the person being questioned, replaced at Esto TV by a biting and provocative attitude.

Esto TV continues a trend at Estonian television media that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when a more liberated style of improvisation and abandonment of the so-called on-air dignity increasingly prevailed in youth programmes and the weekend entertainment shows. A suitable example here is the entertainment programme "Wigla show" from the early 1990s where it was stated that the Finnish 100 Mark banknotes would be invalid in a few days' time. This was a joke, but there were still a number of viewers who panicked. Estonians are used to regarding written word as sacrosanct, something that is perhaps subconsciously transferred to audio-visual media - they couldn't just lie, surely... Esto TV, however, has moved much further, destroying all on-air ethics; the vulgarisation process of the media is taken to non plus ultra, which also demonstrates the hollowness of media conventions.

Esto TV offers an overview of Estonian society by means of extremes - they examine the urban quarters of the rich, visit intellectuals (e.g. Jaan Kaplinski), and film the protesters in front of the Parliament building and the American Embassy.
An intriguing element is introducing religious motifs into the film Choose Order. The prime ministerial candidate is called Moses; the protagonists bow low in front of him, and grab hold of his feet. The text of the film uses Biblical language: 'and the people saw that I was good.'

The work of Esto TV is not perhaps reflecting stereotype Estonians - our nation is usually considered reticent, balanced, characterised by Finno-Ugric boreal pensiveness. The spirit of rebellion and anarchy seen in the production of Esto TV belongs to the minority, non-conformists, and anarchist young people. The mentality of an average Estonian is rather conservative-Lutheran or quietly religiously lukewarm, although fiercely atheistic opinions have been voiced recently as well. A positive image of Estonia can be found in the tradition of the song festivals - the Estonian Television has made them accessible also on video - or there are the excellent novels of Jaan Kross.

Rolf Liiv (b. 1979) is a literary critic and poet, and a French language teacher by profession. He has published a collection of poetry, Enda sisse minek (Entering Yourself, 2003). His work is based on Christian, conservative values.

Esto TV: Choose Order is a provocative documentary about new tendencies in Estonian politics and the desire of the nation for an iron fist. Esto TV establishes a pro-fascist extermination squad in order to put in practice the right wing governmental party's slogan Choose Order. Ken&Tolk investigate the conspiracy, follow the Estonian PM Juhan Parts, exterminate enemies of the state, struggle with representatives of power and explore the nation's hidden dreams and fears. Esto TV cuts through post-communist society like a razor blade in order to reveal concealed everyday xenophobia, racism and intolerance. Directed by Andres Maimik, produced by Juhan Ulfsak, written by Andres Maimik, Rain Tolk, Juhan Ulfsak, edited by Andres Maimik; cast: Ken Saan, Rain Tolk, Juhan Parts etc., original score by Chalice, Janek Murd, Sten Sheripov, Koer