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Katri’s husband has died in the Finnish Winter War. When the Continuation War begins, Katri volunteers to work in a military hospital in Helsinki. She is courted by a patient, a poetry-reciting countryman about to be discharged from service. At the same time, she dates her old school friend Eero, who even goes AWOL to be near her. As the war continues, Katri must make difficult decisions about her life.
Merja Väisänen was awarded the Jussi Award for Best Costume Design.
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David – Stories of Honor and Shame is a documentary film about the dramatic experiences of Finnish Jews during World War II. It explores the pressures of their dual identity during the Continuation War, when Finland fought as an ally of Germany. The film delves into the stories of Jewish soldiers on the front lines, political negotiations with the Nazis over the deportation of Finnish Jews, and the reasons why Finland became an exception in the history of the Holocaust.
The documentary is built on personal accounts of Finnish Jews and previously unpublished archival material. It highlights individual stories and offers a human perspective on challenging and still-relevant topics, sparking reflection and discussion among viewers.
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Mika Taanila and Jussi Eerola’s documentary Return of the Atom follows the creation process of the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant unit, which turned into a massive construction farce, over nearly a decade. The film portrays the municipality of Eurajoki as the focal point of the global nuclear renaissance. Drawing on a variety of voices and situational humor, Return of the Atom depicts life in this nuclear power town of 6,000 residents, giving a platform to both advocates and opponents of nuclear energy. (Source: B-Plan Distribution)
The film won the Jussi Award for Best Music.
Note: No DVD or Blu-ray copies available.
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Winter 1975 – Author Jeanette Aspen arrives at Lapinlahti Mental Hospital to meet her only child, psychiatrist Karin Aspen, 36 years after sending her daughter to Sweden and traveling to Southern Europe at the start of the Winter War. The encounter triggers a drama between the mother and daughter, who are now total strangers to each other.
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The War of Pilots is a documentary film about the wartime efforts of Finnish pilots. It began with rudimentary planes derided as “flying looms,” progressed to dogfights in clumsy Fokkers, and reached the celebrated “Pearls of the Sky” Brewsters, which made an impression with their mere sound. The nimble Blenheim bomber, a marvel of the Winter War, aged into a museum piece during the war years. Yet even it, nicknamed “Tin Heikki,” was sent into the Lapland War against German anti-aircraft defenses.
Let’s not forget the mechanics who serviced the planes under tarps in -40°C weather, pumping fuel from barrels through lambskin chamois filters.
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Two Documentaries About Wartime Finland, available in DVD.
Burned Village – Three Stories of War and Reconciliation:
Burned Village tells the personal stories of Hilja Kuosku and Tyyne Martikainen from Savukoski and Hemmi Seppänen from Suomussalmi, based on their experiences with Soviet partisans during the Winter War and Continuation War in the villages along Finland’s northern eastern border. For decades, these stories were either voluntarily silenced or suppressed by the state. In recent years, these experiences have begun to be documented, shedding light on the trauma people endured during the war. Efforts have also been made to understand why the Soviet Union conducted such brutal partisan operations in Finland.
Red Tanks in Finland’s Wars and Peace:
Red Tanks is a story of the Soviet tanks familiar to Finnish war veterans. These tanks were used against Finnish forces on the frontlines but, through war spoils, significant numbers were also repurposed for Finnish use. The story of Soviet tanks did not end with the peace treaty; their use continued for many years in “peaceful tasks.” In the program, war veterans and postwar tank operators share their experiences from the battlefields and tank training during the postwar period in the Soviet Union.
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The Green Sisters have been serving in military canteens since 1918. Every Finnish conscript and veteran of the last wars appreciates the military canteen, whose over 90-year history is now, for the first time, brought to a wider audience in the form of a video documentary. In the documentary, about ten sisters who served during the Winter and Continuation Wars recall their experiences and anecdotes from their work with military canteens during both wartime and peacetime.
Regarding the wartime years, the documentary sheds light on a rarely discussed topic: women in active war zones. Few people know that the Military Canteen Organization is the oldest continuously operating national defense organization in Finland. Military canteen sisters contribute nearly 200,000 hours of voluntary work annually to support conscripts, bringing warmth and comfort to garrisons, camps, and military exercises.
While comparing wartime and peacetime military canteen work is challenging, the friendly smile of a sister behind the counter and the scent of freshly baked buns and coffee have remained unchanged since the founding of the military canteen.
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An inspiring true story of three relentless African-American female geniuses who made groundbreaking contributions to NASA. Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were the brilliant minds behind a pivotal mission that sent astronaut John Glenn into orbit for the first time. This transformative achievement not only restored national confidence but also established the United States as a formidable competitor in the space race alongside the Soviet Union.
These human “computers” broke barriers of gender and race during a time of significant social inequality, paving the way for future generations to dream big and challenge societal norms.
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The main character of the film, the Man in the White Suit, is by no means an ordinary Finn. On the contrary, he is a Marxist-bearded, Bukowski-like drifting romantic, wandering through the streets of Helsinki, in bars, cars, beds, and in a song. After the entire cast of “The Last Rat Skins,” it is even easier to agree with Buñuel’s statement that human life is, in principle, no more valuable than the life of insects.
Director:
Anssi Mänttäri
Starring:
Kauko Laurikainen
Anssi Mänttäri
Sarina Röhr
Anssi Mänttäri’s low-budget films with their intimate content have become classics. In this black comedy set in summer Helsinki, the main character (Mänttäri himself) jumps from one bar and bed to the next. The film contains especially crude black humor.
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The movie, based on Bertolt Brecht’s play, follows the farmer Puntila, who is a real pig when sober but becomes very generous when drunk. Puntila tries to get his daughter married, but the problem is that his drunk self wants her to marry a different man than his sober self does.
Director, Writer:
Ralf Långbacka
Story:
Hella Wuolijoki
Writer:
Bertolt Brecht
Lassi Pöysti won the Jussi Award for Best Actor.
Note: No longer available on DVD or Blu-ray.
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