"Baltic Tribes: The Last Pagans of Europe" is now included with Amazon Prime in the U. S.(https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0844HQ51V/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r). Sadly, the only language option in this distribution stream is English, not Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Estonian, Danish or German, but since the first person in-story narrator is a Danish spy rather than a Balt, it's not that ridiculously inappropriate. The omniscient super-narrator sounds a bit like a synthesized voice when speaking English, but the few words she says in crisp and juicy Latvian and Lithuanian confirm she's a living actor.

For those unfamiliar with the film, it is a fictitious travelogue in the form of a chronicle narrated by its author. He is sent by the king of Denmark to spy on the Balts during his travels as a trader. He witnesses and comments on the customs and beliefs of the local peoples, which encompass almost every one of the major Baltic and Finnic tribes that inhabited Latvia, Lithuania and East Prussia, along with a few handfuls of Estonians thrown in for good measure.

The story takes place in the early thirteenth century, when the Livonian Brethren of the Sword (Catholic warrior monks from Germany) were busy making and breaking alliances with the local tribes and hiring them as mercenaries to divide and conquer, nominally in the name of Christ, but really to colonize and exploit them. The traveler witnesses the magic of summer and winter solstice celebrations, funerals, markets and battles. He is wounded and healed, trips on fungal and botanical hallucinogens, is enslaved, goes native, and finally agrees to go to war in return for his freedom.

This is a docu-drama with live action interspersed with several styles of animation: one that resembles manuscript illustrations come to life, and another which is more reminiscent of naturalistic paintings. Although some of the events depicted are quite speculative, better informed historians than myself say that little or nothing is obviously inconsistent with our current understanding of the period.

Some may complain that the film slanders our ancestors, but please consider that it is a fictional chronicle based on real ones. The narrator was a foreigner and a Christian who had no choice but to interpret what he saw through the lens of his own life experience and beliefs. A big part of the story is how he progressively comes to tolerate, respect, admire, and finally adopt the Baltic Pagan way of life he encounters. It's a bit like "Dances With Wolves" that way, but more ambiguous, and therefore more realistic: he only gradually and grudgingly learns to adapt to the new culture in which he finds himself rather than falling in love with it on day one.

The extras are all Latvian and and Lithuanian historic reenactors wearing their own garb. If you don't already know, the authenticity and quality of kits in the East Baltic region (and perhaps in general in much of Europe) is higher than we are accustomed to seeing in North America. Pretty much everyone sews their own clothing by hand, and more specialized skills such as dyeing, fabric and band weaving, blacksmithing, silversmithing, founding, woodcarving, pottery, etc. Are all done within the community. Since the underlying technologies have not changed much over the millennia, and they have lived on in folk art to the present day, you'll see some enviable garb and accessories. You may also spot some familiar faces. We recognized more names in the closing credits than I caught on screen, but they're all in there somewhere, so the film has the added entertainment value of being a moving "Where's Waldo".

There is abundant nudity of both sexes, violence, body parts and entrails both human and animal, an animal sacrifice (possibly real, but not up close),brief indirectly shown sex, and even a couple of instances of arachnophagy. All in all, milder than much popular entertainment today and much less distressing than politics.

BTW, don't confuse this film with the much more lavishly budgeted "Nameja Gredzens" a.k.a. "The Pagan King" (also on Amazon Prime),which was also produced in Latvia and premiered in 2018 for the national centenary. It is set in some of the same places during the same period. I have heard only praise for "Baltic Tribes" and only derision for "Pagan King" from reenactors in Latvia. "Tribes" achieved much more with much less funding than "King," because it was a labor of love.

Enjoy!

Known as Baltu Ciltis, this film is all about religious rituals, the Battle of Saule, the Crusaders battles and the fiery battles for the free land. Who were the last pagans of Europe and who did they believe? You'll discover all of that here in this film, in which Danish spy Lars enters the tribal lands of the Baltic people, takes part in religious rites, gets high during the summer solstice, becomes the slave of Curonians and even fights the Crusaders.

The team of Raitis Abele and Lauris Abele has created something truly interesting here. It's an almost "you are there" way of showing the 13th century, along with animated educational segments. If you told me I was going to enjoy a historical movie this much, I would have told you that you were crazy.

Right when you start getting into it the film changes direction.. it like 20 short story's into one long history lesson. It looks cool but I just couldn't get into it.. better off watching the history channel