New Europe (2007) s01e05 Episode Script

PALIN: For 50 years
after the Second World War
Sovlet muscle,
both mllltary and polltlcal,
domlnated the Baltlc States.
But In 1 99 1
they galned thelr Independence.
Estonla, Latvla and Llthuanla
were now free to llve thelr llves,
revlve thelr culture
and clear up the mess.
Thls Is Talllnn, capltal of Estonla.
From here, I'll be travelllng through
the Baltlcs south to Kallnlngrad.
When I was last here, 1 6 years ago,
It was an unwelcomlng Sovlet republlc.
Left to lts own devlces,
Talllnn has boomed.
Estonla has a populatlon
not much more than Blrmlngham,
and everyone Is dolng rather nlcely.
I'm drlvlng along the coast
to meet some of these
newly affluent Estonlans
who are trylng to come to terms
wlth It all.
The days of Communlst conformlty
are long gone.
Our hosts,
Margus, Evelln and thelr famlly,
Ilve In a pyramld.
Evelin, what's it like
living inside the pyramid?
Normally it helps to find the way
to do things
and the way you really feel
and find the power inside you!
That's like the!!! Like God in you!
It helps to find God in you,
- Because God is!!!
- God or good?
- God!
- God in you!
- God in you! God is everything!
- Hmm!
- I mean, God is like the basic energy!
- Hmm!
And if you find this God you can!!!
You can create whatever!
Are Estonians particularly interested
in spiritual things?
Many people are searching
for spiritual enlightenment
and are looking for
different practices and how to!!!
How to get their life!!!
flowing easier and to be happier!
Llvlng In a pyramld Is clearly not
the only way to make your llfe happler,
and tonlght frlends and nelghbours
are here to try another approach.
(FLUTES PLAYING)
At the moment,
It malnly Involves starlng.
The sun Is at last beglnnlng to set,
and Margus, our host,
Is maklng flnal preparatlons.
It looks llke any summer barbeque
but the only dlfference Is
that what's golng on thls barbeque
are the guests.
(DRUM BEATING)
Margus leads off.
Intrepld ladles follow hlm.
Some of the men are not so sure.
Why do you think people do this, Margus?
I think they do that because
of the same reason why I do that!
It gives me good feeling
and my heart will be open!
I know who I am better!
Is it about!!!
Is it about conquering fear?
Yes! Yes!
To understand that fear, how we can
be without fear, we have to bring
fear so close if we can,
to look what is fear!
(EXHALES)
- But is it!!! You tell me!
- I have to say,
I feel scared at the moment more than!!!
- Really?
- Really!
That's great!
Really! I feel,
"0h, what I have to say? How can I say?"
0h, well, excellent! You did very well!
You did very well! That was very good!
It's a curlously emotlonal evenlng,
though I'm afrald the only thlngs
I'll be puttlng on flres are chestnuts.
Further up the coast
are 1 00 concrete sultcases.
They symbollse the pllght
of all those Estonlans who fled abroad
when the Red Army marched
Into thelr country In 1 944.
They're part of an art collectlon
assembled by Jaan Manltskl
who, as a babe In arms,
was caught up In It all.
Just from this coastline here
many small fishing boats
left over the Finnish Gulf to Finland
or the Baltics to Sweden!
And most people
could only bring with them a suitcase!
And many times
when the small boats were crowded
then they even had to leave them
on the shore here!
So this is some kind of
reminder of what has happened
on these shores!
Havlng made hls money as buslness
manger of the pop group ABBA,
Manltskl came back home
and offered hls expertlse
to Estonla's new free-market economy.
Now all hls energles
are golng Into thls arts centre.
Hls palntlngs, by Estonlan artlsts,
are a blt of everythlng,
the good, the bad and the ugly.
As my mother would say,
"I don't think I could live with that!"
I would neither
put it in my living room!
- No, exactly! Perhaps in the bathroom!
- 0kay!
Jaan shows me hls latest acqulsltlon,
and very toplcal It Is.
This is the painter Juri Arrak's view
of the organised by individuals
demolishing of the monster!
PALIN: The monster being!!!?
MANITSKl: This is the Soviet system!
We started up
in a very, very difficult situation!
PALIN: Yeah!
MANITSKl: The Estonian economy
and the whole society
was so integrated in the Soviet system!
For example, to illustrate it,
a big shoemaking factory in Tallinn
produced left foot shoes, number 44!
The right foot shoes
were made in Irkutsk, maybe,
or Murmansk or somewhere else!
Back In Talllnn,
the Incomlng ferrles are full
as yet more people dlscover
the unhurrled appeal of the old town.
(BELL CLANGING)
Across the Gothlc rooftops
rlses the new Estonla,
a mlnl Manhattan,
wlth a state-of-the-art
electronlc economy.
But In Old Town Square
I dlscover there are llmlts
to the Estonlan dream.
Buslnessman Peter Knoll tells me
that for the Russlans who stayed on here
the government has devlsed
an exqulslte torture.
Russians are obliged to learn Estonian,
aren't they?
That's correct!
In order to become an Estonian citizen
you must pass a test in Estonian,
which comprises about 3,000 characters!
That's why we have still,
I think it's around 1 0,000
or just slightly below,
of residents in Estonia
without nationality!
So they're not citizens of Estonia
but they are not Russians any more
because they have given up
their Russian citizenship!
PALIN: So what rights do they have?
They have the right to live here!
They are mainly elderly people which
are not learning the language any more
but the family are taking care of them!
However, this has been already discussed
by the European Union as well,
because you cannot have it that
somebody is a resident in your country
who has been living all his life
and cannot have citizenship!
So it's an issue actually
on the European Union agenda!
In Sovlet tlmes, the Baltlc States
were seen as somethlng
of a braclng seaslde sanatorlum.
I've been recommended a cllnlc
outslde Talllnn
where all sorts of tradltlonal
treatments awalt the tlred traveller.
The lady I've come to see
Is one of those Russlans who stayed on.
Her name Is Ljudmllla Agajeva
and she's an hlrudotheraplst.
- Next?
- Ah, hello!
- Hello! How are you?
- Hello! Very bad!
0h, I'll help you!
- Let's go with me!
- I'm very bad because I've come here!
What do you want me to take off? Shirt?
- Everything?
- Small striptease!
- Small striptease?
- Yes!
(LAUGHING)
0kay!
Right! There we go!
- It's here!
- 0h, I can go behind the screens!
There we go!
Small, not very good striptease!
Is that okay? Enough?
Is that okay? Enough?
AGAJEVA: Very nice! Very nice!
- Please!
- 0kay!
0n back or front?
- No!
- Back, okay!
See, I've never done this before!
This is the first time!
- Uh-huh! Comfort?
- So I don't know what happens!
- Do you have comfort?
- Yes, I am very comfortable!
- Yes, yes!
- My heart's beating rather fast!
Isn't it?
- Quickly, quickly!
- Very fast, yes, I'm nervous, you see!
I've never had small creatures!!!
(AGAJEVA SPEAKING IN F0REIGN LANGUAGE)
PALIN: Hmm?
- You can see!
- Yeah!
0h, right!
0h, yes,
that doesn't make me feel any better!
- Better, very better!
- But they work?
They do work to make me feel stronger?
Yes, translator!
'Cause I've been doing
so much travelling!
Just!!! 0h, is that on my body now?
So it is!
Well, I experienced a slight sting,
nothing more than
having an injection!
- So it's sucking out bad blood or!!!
- Yes, yes!
- Bad blood!
- It's stuck to you now, isn't it?
- PALIN: 0oh, ow, ooh!
- 0h, oh!
0ne's enough!
Definitely like a little
electric charge!
These special leeches?
AGAJEVA: Yes, yes! Special!
PALIN: Leeches that you get from!!!
It's not so bad, it's just!!!
When you start thinking about
what is going on,
- Little black things with their!!!
- 0ops!
!!! Heads into your body!
It's like a series
of quite sharp electric shocks!
0h, it's quite, um!!!
It's quite a!!!
sort of strong stinging sensation!
Put it this way,
I won't be doing it again for a bit!
Ah, I feel better! How much!!!
How much blood do they take?
0ne glass vodka!
- 0ne glass of vodka!
- Yes!
PALIN: Yes, please!
- Two hundred!!!
- I like it straight up with a twist!
!!! Maybe three hundred millilitres!
Are you enjoying it? 0h, look,
they're getting quite engorged!
- Is that growing? Full of blood?
- I stimulation!
- You're stimulating the leech!
- Yes!
0h, gosh!
That's something I thought
I'd never see in my life!
Someone stimulating a leech!
There's a first time for everything!
- Do they have teeth like!!!
- Yes, teeth!
- I understand!
- I understand, how!!!
- Three hundred teeths!
- Three hundred?
- Yes!
- Each of these little fellows?
Yes, and three jaws!
- Three!!!
- Jaws!
- Jaws? 0h, jaws! Three jaws!
- Yes!
Three, four, five!
That gives them some power!
Three jaws, I mean, that's great!
You can have breakfast,
lunch and dinner at the same time!
(LAUGHING)
- After they finish!!!
- Yes!
- !!! Take the blood, then what?
- Yes!
What happens then? Do you kill them?
I kill they! I kill!
- Yes, why?
- Because!!!
I've become very fond of them!
- They're my friends!
- Yes, please!
- Yes!
- Well, I don't want you to kill them!
Can they go somewhere to!!!
Somewhere where they can retire?
Sit quietly in an armchair!!!
- It's surprise for you, please!
- !!! Read Leech Weekly
- Yes, yes!
- You're a hard woman!
When they are hungry, you, but
- They're going to!!!
- 0kay!
They're still sucking away at those,
aren't they?
Can you imagine that,
halfway through a nice little steak
and whomp, someone comes and pulls
your chair away!
- Don't want!
- 0kay!
Is that blood in them?
- Yes!
- 0h, can I just touch them?
- Very nice blood!
- There you are! Thank you very much!
Thank you, Frank! Thank you, Arthur!
They're hermaphrodites!
Thank you, Frank and Diana!
Thank you, Arthur and Elizabeth!
You've done a good job, really!
- There they go!
- Yes!
They know alcoholics!
(PALIN GR0ANING)
0h, now that hurts!
I don't want to watch them
go to their deaths!
AGAJEVA: Vodka, very strong vodka!
PALIN: That's what it is?
You're right!
Can I have some of that vodka?
Do you want vodka now?
Yeah, lovely! But they've had the vodka!
I have vodka!
(GR0ANING)
(AGAJEVA LAUGHING)
Now that's something!
That is something else!
Four breasts!
You want to see? Your friends!
You're going to kill them?
I don't want to watch that! Ahhh!
AGAJEVA: All finished!
PALIN: Thank you! Thank you!
(AGAJEVA LAUGHING)
- Do they die like that?
- Yes!
No long, drawn-out suffering?
AGAJEVA: I was Mafioso!
- You were?
- Mafioso!
You're a caring person
but when the moment comes you can
turn into a killer!
Natasha!
0h! Thank you!
Thls Is Ape,
my Idea of the perfect border post.
- First time out here?
- First time, yes!
No queues, no metal detectors,
Just a man In a hut.
Thank you! Thank you very much!
Pauslng only to correct my pronunclatlon
to Ar-pay, not Ape,
my courteous guard shows me Into Latvla.
Half as blg agaln as Estonla,
Its populatlon Is llttle more
than two mllllon.
Is thls why thelr tralns are so short?
Somethlng's mlsslng.
Thls Is supposed to be the 7.:50.
Maybe It's a natlonal hollday.
Maybe they've heard about the leeches.
Eventually, an englne arrlves
and we become, offlclally,
the 7.:50 from Aluksne to Gulbene.
(CHATTERING)
Our progress through thls sylvan
countryslde seems unreal,
almost dreamllke.
Whlch seems entlrely sultable
for thls Is Mldsummer's Eve,
and a blg nlght for Latvlans,
as people up and down the country
gather for the pagan festlval of Janl.
(PE0PLE SINGING)
The Latvlans converted to Chrlstlanlty
much later than most of Europe.
So resolutely pagan
were the local trlbes
that In 1 1 98 the Pope launched
a crusade agalnst them.
Here In the heart of the countryslde,
the pre-Chrlstlan tradltlons of Janl
are belng palnstaklngly revlved.
The women wear garlands,
whlch must contaln
at least 2 7 dlfferent flowers.
New arrlvals at the celebratlon
are rltually Insulted,
and then expected to reply.
(SINGING)
Once you've shown you can hold your own,
you're allowed to hug the host.
(ALL LAUGHING)
Janl Is a celebratlon of blrth,
growth and fecundlty.
And they do It In style.
The Latvians have preserved
1,200 melodies
for this one night,
to sing on this one night!
(W0MAN SPEAKING IN L0CAL LANGUAGE)
And 28,000 texts, you know,
little song lyrics!
PALIN: Are these written down
or just handed down?
- Yeah, written down! Book!
- They're written down! There's a book!
(SPEAKING IN L0CAL LANGUAGE)
Yeah, at the moment the sad thing is
that people just get drunk on Jani
and they think that tradition
is not necessary
and they don't know what to do
on Jani, so that's what they do!
In the evening we say goodbye to the sun
and in the morning
we welcome the sun again!
And you can't sleep tonight!
- I don't think we're going to!
- No! Are you staying here?
Dancers clrcle the oak tree,
symbol of strength and vlrlllty.
Slngle women are entreated
to flnd partners.
(CHATTERING)
The food conslsts of cheese and bread,
a llttle severe,
but bread and cheese
were all that was left to eat
before the new harvest.
Mlnd you, there's plenty of home brew
to wash It down.
(W0MAN CHATTERING)
I hear my name called out
and fear the worst.
(ALL SINGING)
PALIN: Thank you!
- What were they saying?
- They were saying to you
- That you are now Mikhels, not Michael!
- Mikhels?
Mikhels, which is a Latvian version,
and the oak is always the symbol
of strength and virility
and on Midsummer night, in the circle,
it's concentrated on your head!
So you are crowned
with strength, virility
and they're singing
and wishing that you will see
everything well,
you will hear everything well,
and you will film everything well!
(LAUGHING)
- Yes!
- And the filming part
is part of the ancient tradition!
Do I have to wear this
throughout the rest of the filming?
0f course!
- And the rest of the night!
- The rest of the night!
The rest of the night!
(SINGING)
Belleve me, It's not easy to dance
wlth half a Natlonal Park on your head.
The settlng of the Mldsummer nlght's sun
Is the most lmportant moment
of the evenlng.
Just before 1 1.:00,
we process up the nearest hlll
to watch and to celebrate.
Thls Is developlng
Into qulte a test of stamlna.
And I've lost my Natlonal Park.
As darkness falls, last year's
Janl wreath Is ceremonlally burnt.
(ALL SINGING)
And a symbollc new flre Is llt.
(CHEERING)
A blazlng wheel of hopes and fears
and thanks bowls down the hlll.
And we all cheer.
(PE0PLE CHEERING)
(CLAPPING)
Rlga, the Latvlan capltal,
rlch In bulldlngs from
Stallnlst grandeur to medleval Gothlc,
has recently acqulred a reputatlon
as a safe place for summlt meetlngs.
To flnd out more about Rlga's status
as a world host,
I'm on my way to meet one of
the Baltlc's top chefs, Martln Rltlns.
A Latvlan, who learnt hls trade
In Canada and Corby, Northants,
he now cooks
for the world's most powerful.
This is a starter that we did
for George Bush when he was here!
- Right, okay!
- And it!!! Crayfish!
- Crayfish is very, very traditional!!!
- Did he ask for this?
No, he didn't, he didn't,
but we talked!!!
- We talked to his!!!
- Yeah, okay!
- To his!!!
- 0h, look!
I mustn't get too fond of it!
That's my problem!
- You can take this home with you!
- 0h, thank you!
(CHUCKLES)
PALIN: So, a Baltic crayfish, is this?
RITINS: It's a Baltic crayfish!
It's a freshwater!
It's a team work!!!
And Bush has a team, so do we here!
So it's, um!!!
The sauce!!!
It's onion!!! Sauce American!
But with Latvian produce!
Carrots, onions, tomatoes, garlic
and cognac!
PALIN: Cognac?
RITINS: Cognac!
Now, I want to see how can you!!!
PALIN: 0h, right!
RITINS: Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!
Up! Up! Higher! Higher!
When George came
he only had an hour and a half!
(RITINS LAUGHING)
Now can I?
I'll show you, I'll show you the trick!
Like in tennis,
you don't shake the pan,
you shake the wrist!
0h, right! It's so heavy, though! 0ops!
(RITINS LAUGHING)
It's so incredibly heavy!
RITINS: Now, how do you think!!!
Wow, that is heavy!
Respect to you guys who do that!
How do you think Fanny Cradock did this?
- Yeah, I don't!!!
- She did it!
I think she must have had
a few pints beforehand!
- And a bit of colour!
- 0r something stronger!
When you have someone like the President
of the United States or whatever,
well, not or whatever,
when you have your friend George,
President of the United States,
and Laura to cook for,
is it a big palava?
Have you got security people
coming around
- Keeping an eye on you?
- It's very, very much so!
Like we do other state dinners,
but never anything has been like this,
and we had three days with
their security people, their chefs!!!
- Three days for one meal?
- Three days! For one meal! Yes!
I was with their chefs for three days!
We discussed the menu!
We went through it in very much detail
and I had to show them
where everything came from!
Did they give you any juicy details
about his!!!
- Absolutely, no, no, no!
- !!! Personal habits?
"Don't give him apricot jam,
'cause his leg starts to wobble!"
(PE0PLE CHATTERING)
- Now here we'll try again! The tennis!
- 0h, God!
RITINS: No, it's in the wrist!
- It's not!!! It's not Shake 'N Bake!
- It's so heavy!
No, no, no, but in my case it is!
That's it!
Let me see your wrists! Look at that!
Look at that! Now that is a wrist!
That's mobile and flexible!
- And that's pathetic!
- That's the tennis, that's the tennis!
I'll work on it, I'll work on it!
- The whole lot?
- Not the whole lot, as you!!!
- We nearly had a Molotov cocktail!
- Yes, we nearly did, actually!
You were telling me,
actually, in the kitchen
that the process is he vets!!!
His chefs are with you for three days!
For three days, we cook for 22!
And I couldn't say, "This!!!"
I usually say, "The nicest one,
"that's for our President,"
or "That's for that Prime Minister!"
But we weren't allowed this time!
I had to keep my mouth shut!
Which is difficult for me!
And they said, "That's the one!"
Even if it was the most horrible one!
Because this is!!!
We're under stress, pressure,
very quick, a la mlnute.
It was all cooked at the last minute!
It wasn't pre-cooked!
And that was the one that he had!
Now another one I had to taste
and another one,
one of his security people tasted!
- Really?
- Yes! So it was very exciting! I mean!!!
Your life was on the line!
It was like a movie!
It was like a movie!
- And that's the way they do it!
- That's it! Yeah!
On Latvla's Baltlc coast
stands an abandoned cluster
of concrete houslng blocks,
the remalns of a once-substantlal
Sovlet presence.
(RES0NATING B00M)
Once they spoke of prlde, achlevement
and a better future.
Now they're turnlng to dust.
And thls Is the reason
why they were here.
Thls was one of the Sovlet Unlon's
most lmportant ears
on the outslde world.
PALIN: 0h, so here we are!
In the belly of the beast!
It was so lmportant
that when the Cold War ended,
the people who bullt It
trled to destroy lt.
But they reckoned wlthout world oplnlon.
In the old control room,
Yurls Zhagars, a Latvlan astronomer,
explalns how they saved
the Ventsplls radlo telescope
In the nlck of tlme.
And it was like in a fairy tale!
Let's say some 1 5 minutes
before execution or little bit more,
the order of destroying was changed
for some kind of electrical demolition,
but not touching
the important parts of the instruments!
And it was because the world's
radio astronomical society
was making some protestations,
as well as Russian Academy of Science!
That to destroy the best radio telescope
in Northern Europe
only on political reasons,
it's some kind of vandalism!
Instead they sent In a wrecklng team
to make It lmposslble to use.
This is!!! This is one of the examples
of electric sabotage
because all these connections
has been dismounted and disconnected!
And no any paper,
no any diagram how to connect them!
PALIN: 0h, really!
So it was some kind of
scientific puzzle for our engineers!
And some challenge to really put into!!!
And this is not the only box!
We have at least four such boxes,
eight panels,
but how to connect it was a hard job!
And this demolition work,
it was performed during one week!
We have worked four years
to put them back!
PALIN: How does this compare in,
sort of, size and scale
to other radio telescopes?
From the point of the scale
it's not the biggest one!
Europe has three to five of the bigger
radio telescopes
of the scale of 70 metres!
As in Jodrell Bank, in Robledo in Spain,
and in Effelsberg in Germany!
But the value of the telescope
is not only the size,
the value is also
the accuracy of the surface!
And accuracy of the surface
is very high for this telescope!
It's really the best radio telescope
of the Northern Europe!
Let's come!
PALIN: 0kay!
Like a submarine or whatever!
- Yes, yes!
- A submarine in the sky!
And now the next level!
And here is our submarine!
- Like a submarine!
- It looks like a submarine!
And it's tilting when we are working!
This whole chamber tilts, does it?
Yes, and you can walk
on the left wall as well! So it is!!!
How far does it tilt? How many degrees?
About 1 00!
- Really?
- So more than 90 degrees!
It must be a rather weird sensation!
- ZHAGARS: Be careful!
- You could have got a lift!
It's tall!
- Wow! Fantastic!
- Let me help you!
PALIN: Here we are!
Pointing at the heavens!
ZHAGARS: We are on this!!! 0n top!
PALIN: I really feel!!!
Well done to you and your team!
You have saved this thing, you know!
Yes, we have saved it!
But we have saved it for!!!
There's not so many
beautiful radio telescopes in the world!
And this is one of the, really,
of the top instruments!
So, it's to be used for
extragalactic radio astronomy!
It's the best application we can offer!
And it's a wonderful suntrap!
(B0TH LAUGHING)
ZHAGARS: Yes, as well! As well as for!!!
Yes, you could have two lounges
round here,
you could make all the money you need!
I know, but this surface is the most
valuable part of the telescope!
Its accuracy is better
than one millimetre!
Savlng the telescope
was a rare vlctory for common sense.
Across the border Is the largest
of the Baltlc republlcs, Llthuanla.
Influenced more by Poland than Sweden,
It's staunchly Cathollc.
And In the mlddle of lts green
and pleasant countryslde
Is a remarkable rellglous slte.
Thls Is the Hlll of Crosses,
a symbol of Llthuanlan deflance
for over 1 50 years.
The Communlsts bulldozed It three tlmes
and once even flooded the area
wlth sewage before a Papal vlslt.
Whlch only served
to make It even more popular.
(CR0SSES TINKLING)
The skyllne of the capltal Vllnlus
shows Llthuanla's mlxed fortunes.
One of the most enllghtened emplres
of medleval Europe,
It's slnce fallen
under the sway of Poland,
Sweden, Germany and tsarlst Russla.
In the Second World War alone
It was occupled three tlmes
by the Sovlet Unlon,
then by the Germans,
then agaln by Sovlet troops.
These are the names of Llthuanlans
who trled to reslst.
In thls bulldlng,
In the heart of Vllnlus,
once a courthouse,
once even a boys' school,
the occuplers dealt, brutally,
wlth that reslstance.
The basement where prlsoners were kept
and often tortured
Is now open to the publlc.
I put on a headset
to let me know what I'm about to see.
MAN 0N TAPE: Welcome to
the Genoclde Vlctlms Museum.
Housed In the former KGB headquarters,
the museum Is the only one of lts klnd
In the Baltlc States.
Object number one.
The padded cell.
Thls Is one of the grlmmest places
In the prlson.
The walls are padded and soundproofed,
wlth a straltjacket on the wall
used for those who reslsted
or were deranged wlth torture.
The walls absorbed thelr crles
and shouts for help.
Thls cell was fltted out In 1 9 73,
though there were slmllar cells
before that.
Object number two.
Thls Is a guard post.
From the far end of thls room
the guards watched the outslde wlndows
of the cells round the clock.
In 1 964,
when the prlson premlses were reduced,
four guard booths remalned,
three Inslde and one In the courtyard.
There were telephones and alarm systems
In the booths for armed guards.
It was a hlgh-securlty prlson.
Only one escape Is known.
Object number three.
The next room contalns two cells
wlth concrete pools In the floors,
fltted out In about 1 945.
Wltnesses say that they had to
elther stand In Ice-cold water,
on Ice In wlnter,
or on a small stand.
When they dozed off
they fell Into the water.
A polltlcal prlsoner recalled,
"I dld everythlng
not to freeze to death.
"Though I was weak wlth Illness,
"I would walk, run or try to stand,
"but I kept sllpplng off onto the Ice.
"Eventually, I curled up, exhausted,
"on the bloodstalned Ice floor.
"Some prlsoners were kept there
for flve days and nlghts. "
PALIN: The televlslon tower
above Vllnlus
has become a shrlne
to Baltlc llberatlon.
In 1 99 1, 1 3 unarmed Llthuanlans
were kllled by the Red Army
as they trled
to protect the freedom to broadcast
Llthuanla's Independence vote.
It was the cllmax
of three years of protest.
Two years earller, an estlmated
two mllllon men, women and chlldren
from all the Baltlc republlcs
Jolned hands In a human chaln
whlch stretched over 300 mlles
from Talllnn to Vllnlus.
The chaln marked 50 years
of smoulderlng resentment.
(SINGING 0N PA)
(ALL SINGING)
Song Festlvals, whlch were permltted,
provlded an outlet
for antl-Russlan feellng.
The protest, whlch became known
as the Slnglng Revolutlon,
was somethlng qulte unlque In polltlcs,
and It led to the freedom
of the Baltlc States.
We are a singing nation!
Well, I've heard a lot about this,
that you are!!!
Algls Greltal Is a Llthuanlan TVstar.
I want to see just how it works!
I mean, can you just get people to sing?
Ah, it's very easy!
(ALL SINGING)
Convincing?
PALIN: Very good, yeah! Very good!
PALIN: Beautiful!
Now I'm convinced, yes!
Maybe they could stay
and get some other people
and we'll all sing together!
PALIN: Have a sit down
and we'll find!!! That's very good!
You get a little choir to do that
then I would be impressed!
I'd be very impressed!
- 0h, not that one!
- No?
PALIN: Do you know this man?
Do you know him?
- Yes!
- Yes!
0h! "Yes!" Wasn't very!!! "Yes!"
PALIN: Now we're all going to sing
together the same song!
(ALL SINGING)
Is that enough? Maybe another song!
No, we don't know the words!
But very good! No, that's very good!
- Was it?
- You've made the point!
- I think that's excellent!
- So it's $50, then!
Very good!
Eurovision Song Contest next year!
0kay!
Thls Is Nlda In southern Llthuanla.
And the chunky boat
taklng me out of the harbour
Is an old Baltlc flshlng barque.
We're headlng towards one of Europe's
most Intrlgulng landscapes,
a 60-mlle long, two-mlle wlde sandbank
they call the Curonlan Splt.
Thls formldable wall of sand
Is one of the most extraordlnary
and fraglle envlronments
on the contlnent.
Now protected as a Natlonal Park,
these stlll-shlftlng sands
curve away to the south and west
wlth the Baltlc waves on one slde
and lazy lagoons on the other.
Forests have been planted
to help hold thls young and dellcate
strlp of land together.
As I follow the paths and roads
that lead through them
I flnd that the curlosltles of nature
are matched by a few
polltlcal surprlses.
In one of the odder twlsts
of post-war polltlcs,
thls part of East Prussla
was ceded to the vlctorlous Russlans.
They klcked out the Germans and re-named
the anclent clty of Konlgsberg
Kallnlngrad.
But now thelr nelghbours
have won Independence,
Kallnlngrad Is marooned.
A Russlan Island In a European sea.
But today the mood In Kallnlngrad
Is resolutely optlmlstlc.
It's exactly 60 years ago today
that the old Prusslan clty of Konlgsberg
was conslgned to hlstory.
And Kallnlngrad, named after
a Stallnlst presldent of the USSR,
took lts place.
Today It's the red, whlte and blues
of the Russlan Federatlon
that are the colours of celebratlon.
As a result of the ethnlc cleanslng
of the Germans,
everyone gathered here can trace
themselves back to Mother Russla.
(MAN SINGING IN RUSSIAN)
The openlng ceremony
In front of the new Vlctory monument
owes more to Eurovlslon
than any memorles of Red Square.
Note the brand-new Orthodox cathedral
In the background,
of whlch the old Communlst reglme
would certalnly not have approved.
Now It's the turn of the sults,
followed by a press clrcus
hanglng on every word.
(MAN SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN 0N PA)
The Mayor of Kallnlngrad
welcomes, amongst others,
Presldent Putln's man from Moscow.
Putln's wlfe,
by the way, Is a Kallnlngrad glrl.
Also on parade
Is a Russlan Orthodox prlest,
and a much be-medalled veteran
of the Great Patrlotlc War.
Representlng Russlan power today
Is the Admlral of the Baltlc Fleet,
whose nuclear submarlnes
lle just up the coast.
(CLAPPING)
Then It's tlme
for the Russlan natlonal anthem.
Old tune, new words.
(NATl0NAL ANTHEM PLAYING)
(CLAPPING)
The rest of the celebratlons
are dellghtfully un-solemn.
(CHEERING)
A Brldes' Bus crulses the streets
dlsgorglng a dozen young glrls
all wlth one cry, "Spraznlkoml"
"Happy Hollday. "
What Is there not to llke
about Kallnlngrad?
I ask my gulde, Olga Danllova,
whether Kallnlngraders feel
Russlan or European.
We feel Russian!
This goes without saying!
But maybe special Russian,
different from Russians living
in the mainland Russia
due to this geographical location
we found ourselves in!
In what way would you say
you feel different from the others
in what you call mainland Russia?
Because we are so close to Europe,
we are part,
we are a geographical part of Europe!
And we travel more to Poland
and to Lithuania, further to Europe,
than we travel to Russia!
And some of the children living here,
they have never been to Russia!
But to go to Poland or to Lithuania
is quite a common thing!
Is there any appetite here
for independence from Russia?
0h, no! No way!
We don't even have this idea
in our minds
'cause it is not possible!
We are Russians!
Though we travel to Russia
not very often, most of us,
but we are Russians!
(PLAYING WALTZ MUSIC)
PALIN: So, this open-air singing,
dancing a big thing?
DANIL0VA: Yes, yes, yes, it is!
It is very popular!
Especially among older generation!
- PALIN: Yeah!
- Who are just enjoying themselves!
PALIN: And women, a lot! Single women!
0h, thank you!
- Is that because of the lack of men?
- DANIL0VA: There are not enough men!
Correct, correct!
PALIN: It's the war,
legacy of the war, is it?
Yeah, yeah! Well spotted!
I shall be leavlng
from thls dockslde early next mornlng,
and very hospltably, the captaln
of thls venerable old banana boat Vityaz
has agreed to let me use hls cabln
as a temporary base.
PALIN: Famous ship!
W0MAN: Hello!
PALIN: Captain! Hello, Captain!
How are you? Thank you very much indeed
for letting us come here!
Very, very kind of you!
After lts banana boat days,
the Vityaz evacuated 20,000 Germans
from here In 1 945.
It was glven to the Brltlsh
who In turn gave her to the Russlans,
for whom she ended up
mapplng the world's deepest sea-bed,
the Marlana Trench In the Paclflc.
This is quite a tour, isn't it,
to get to the Captain's cabin?
Ah, a little bridge!
It's now the centreplece of
Kallnlngrad's Museum of the World Ocean.
- Welcome, it's your room!
- 0h, thank you!
Here you will be sleeping!
It's your bed!
Fantastic, that's lovely!
- 0kay, goodbye!
- Captain's cabin! Thank you very much!
(B0TH SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN)
That's very nice!
Not wantlng my last nlght
to be an antl-cllmax,
Olga's lald on a cultural vlslt.
(CR0WD CLAPPING)
Part hlstorlcal re-enactment,
part general punch-up,
thls homage to the Teutonlc Knlghts
ends In group hugs
and a huge bonflre.
(CR0WD CHEERING)
It may be European rather than Russlan
hlstory they're celebratlng,
but tonlght In Kallnlngrad
nobody really cares.
It seems strange
to be marklng In such flamboyant style
a clty named after Mlkhall Kallnln,
a Sovlet bureaucrat
who no one remembers.
(H0RN S0UNDS)
Hi! Hello there!
Poland, I gather!
Let me give you that!
That's great! Thanks!
Thank you!
(THANKING IN RUSSIAN)
0kay!
I'd hoped to sall down the Rlver Pregel
and across the Bay of Gdansk
to my next destlnatlon
and 1 7th country, Poland.
But a sudden marltlme tlff
between the Russlans and the Poles
has resulted In a resoundlng "Nyet"
to my plan.
Whlle I thlnk of what else to do,
I settle for a farewell crulse
wlth Max and Sergel
along the Kallnlngrad waterfront.
Past dlsused wharves and Idle cranes.
Past my old frlend the Vityaz!
Remnants of the Baltlc Fleet
are In for re-flts
but on the whole thls Is a ghost port.
Kallnlngrad, more than
anywhere else I've seen,
Is a vlctlm of lts hlstory.
Physlcally European,
but emotlonally,
splrltually and polltlcally
cllnglng to the Kremlln.