Responsible for Estonia's first documentary, Utochkin's Flights Over Tartu and first narrative film, A Bear Hunt in Pärnu County, Johannes Pääsuke is regarded as the father of Estonian cinema. Between these two milestones, Pääsuke was commissioned to record the life and customs of the Seto people of which only seven minutes survive. What other adventures Pääsuke and his cohorts encountered during the making of A Journey Through Setomma is charmingly speculated throughout this biopic.

 

Bereft of funds to pursue his cinematic dreams, Pääsuke and fellow photographer Harri Volter happily accept their assignment from the Estonian National Museum. Unfortunately, a mishap on their train journey places the pair in the care of Sergo, a Crimean War veteran who agrees to transport them on his horse and cart. Though his knowledge of the region is of some assistance, Sergo’s reputation as a drunkard and freeloader precedes him at every turn.

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Comedian Ott Sepp and frequent collaborator Mart Arvandi provide amusing portrayals of the film pioneers, with Arvandi assigned the role of straight man to Sepp's Pääsuke and Tõnu Kark's Sergo. Unavoidably episodic in nature, some sequences of this biopic seem superfluous to these foreign eyes. Yet the joyful depiction of the trio's introduction of moving pictures to remote villagers results in a film that, for the most part, transcends cultural barriers.

 

In many ways Johannes Pääsukese tõeline elu is reminiscent of the previous year's Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles. Though that film used animation and this uses comedy, both intercut footage from the original documentary to elevate the depiction of its making.​​