Talvisota

This is an excellent film, brutally honest and tightly reality-bound depiction of the defense of Finland against a better equipped, many times larger, but (fortunately!) poorly led Soviet army, in a bone-chilling arctic winter. Like an image of what a hell frozen over would be like.

Though I am a Finn, and understand the language, out of interest I watched the film with English subtitles. I was dismayed to discover how much was lost in the translation; the subtitles are more like short summaries of the gist of what is being said, without any of the flair and flavour.

As such, the film is a bit spartan and bleak for Hollywood-saturated eyes, but so is war.

In all, an excellent war film, depicting the horror of war more tangibly than any other that I've seen, save for "The Thin Red Line".

Though I'm not a great fan of war-movies I must say this one made quite the impression. I can't really tell what it was but the story struck me.

Not only did this movie give you a story about the war itself, but also on the impact it had on the families afflicted by it. Excellent acting and a chillingly choice of filming made this movie one to remember. Forget about "saving private ryan" this movie shows a war in all it's roughness without the fancy actors doing their best to be the "brave soldier" (no offense to some, but lots to others). After Full Metal Jacket (to me a totally different genre but still for many a war-movie) one of the favourite movies in the "war-theme"

TALVISOTA (Winter War) deals with the 1939-40 Russo-Finnish War, a largely forgotten conflict that was one of the most savage wars of the 20th century. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November of 1939 when the Finns refused Stalin's demands to relinquish some of their territory in Karelia. The Finns were outnumbered 50-1 but fought with incredible courage and tenacity and inflicted a half million casualties on the Soviets before they were forced to capitulate in March of 1940. The Russians were equally brave but not as smart; they stormed well defended positions en mass and were mowed down by the hundreds. TALVISOTA brilliantly captures the horror and carnage of that war and all wars. Disturbing and depressing but also a gripping and deeply moving experience. Makes SAVING PRIVATE RYAN look like a walk in the park.

How about one of the greatest war movies from any country? Might have even influenced some of the recent US warmovies to look more realistic with violence and the gritty and dirty look. Always seemed strange how clean the soldiers looked in old warmovies over here. Should be watched by almost everyone to learn some history. Not sure how few Americans know about the Finns kicking Soviet ass much less even where Finland is. Many thanks to you guys for this great movie. Heard there is a Swedish copy with extra scenes I hope to see also. Only complaint is I don't speak Finnish and sometimes had to rewind to see what they said as I got caught up with the combat action.

I have watched Talvisota for two times and it was even better than in the first time. It's a very realistic movie about the 105 day Winter War, which was fought between Finland and Russia in 1939-1940. The movie follows an infantry regiment from Lapua, and particulary private Martti Hakala. The movie starts when the men are called to an extra training session, but soon they are transported near the border and, soon after that, to the frontline, where they are trying to stop all the russian attacks. The combat scenes look good and realistic. They usually consist of Finns trying to stop the Russian human wave from getting in to the Finnish trenches, but every battle is still different, when the number of Finnish soldiers is decreasing and decreasing and the battles are getting more desperate. And of course, sometimes it's the Finns attacking. Technically the movie is also very good. The sounds really make you feel as if you where there, in the middle of combat, thanks to the sound designer Paul Jyrälä. I have always liked scenes with added slow motion, especially in war movies. This movie features some, and they are in really great places (for example, in one scene a soldier is running to the HQ during a bombardment, trying not to get hit by a grenade. And all is shown in a cool slow motion!) The explosions also are very well done, with pieces of ground, ice and trees flying in the air.

I can't say anything bad about this movie. Sometimes it reminds me of Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan (I also like both of them) but unlike them, Talvisota tells about a war not so famous. I guess that almost everyone of you has heard about the invasion of Normandy and Operation Market Garden, but how many has heard about Taipale? How many has heard about the Winter War?