Rukajärven tie

"Rukajärven Tie" is set in the opening stages of the "Continuation War." In 1941, the Finns sought to take advantage of the German invasion of the Soviet Union to seize back--with interest--the territory the Soviets had captured from Finland in the Winter War of 1939-40. The main protagonist is Eero Perkola, a subaltern commanding a platoon of Finnish bicycle infantry which is participating in the invasion. Once in Russia, Perkola is surprised to run into his fiancée, Kaarina, whom he thought to be safe in Helsinki, but who has joined the women's auxiliaries. Perkola requests his battalion commander to transfer the auxiliaries away from the front. The battalion commander agrees, but asks Perkola to take on a special mission in return; Perkola's platoon is to reconnoitre forward of a gap in the Finnish lines to ensure the Soviets are not preparing to counter-attack in that sector.

This puts "Rukajärven Tie" into the "Lost Patrol" (as in the 1934 John ford film) category of war movies: a small unit making its way through hostile territory, harassed by groups of hostile fighters. Of course, this film is about Finns. It helps to have some knowledge of the historical situation to comprehend this film, but it's not vital. The soldiers do not see the war as some "crusade against godless communism," they're looking for payback, and while ideological differences within the unit are touched upon, the Russians (note: the Russians, not the Soviets) are clearly the common enemy, and the bitterness (in varying degrees) of the Finnish soldiers is clearly evident. War movies of this kind depend on suspense rather than spectacle, and this film has suspense in spades.

The soundtrack contributes to the highly evocative atmosphere in the movie, from the excellent musical score to the buzzing of mosquitoes whenever the action takes place near any body of water. Otherwise, this film is an anorak wargamer's delight, featuring weapons very rarely seen in war movies (such as an SVT-40 Tokarev rifle in the hands of a Russian sergeant, and several Lahti-Saloranta M26 light machineguns), bicycle-mounted infantry (ubiquitous in many early 20th-century armies, but rarely seen in movies), and displaying the highly informal nature of the Finnish armed forces (the only salute in the film is a mark of respect, not of regulations). Incongruously, the platoon behaves amateurishly on occasion, e.g. bunching up while exposed to possible enemy machinegun fire, etc. but this is a minor distraction.

This film has almost everything most people could ask for; sex, violence and though the plot is a little thin in places, there's lots of character development to make up for it. I loved it.

A good portrayal of the Finno-Russian conflict. What is really thrilling is that it also, in my opinion, gives a good view of the Finish character referred to as "SISU". The movie also isn't plagued by the typical American film clichés. Don't miss this one, and I hope that subtitling outside Scandinavia is good enough to do the Finnish soldiers justice. Their temperament really comes alive with their lines.

I liked this movie more than I liked Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. For some reason it was able to capture better what the other movies were trying to capture. What I liked even more was that it was able to "cheat". Meaning it was able to make it look like there was a war going on with a few well taken shots and angles and sound effects, an inspiration for all aspiring filmmakers with no Hollywood money. =)

Ok, "Rukajärven tie" was indeed a great war-film with several astounding scenes, but something started to annoy me in the latter half of the film. Oh yeah: why do the "Ryssäs" die like flies and Finnish soldiers in slow-motion, like real heroes (which don't simply exist in war). Well, this is another veteran-pleaser from writer Antti Tuuri, but a lot better than "Talvisota" (Winter War). Very good, but not perfect.

I saw this film at a Finnish cinema, with only swedish subtitles. As I can only speak a small amount of Finnish and no Swedish, I expected it to be an uncomfortable film to watch, but I found it uniquely interesting to watch a war film in which everyone spoke their own language, instead of an American with an accent. I would recommend this film to anyone.